> LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, t 
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: UNITED STATKS DP AMERICA. | 





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The Graded School. 



A GRADED 

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 

WITH 

COPIOUS PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS TO TEACHERS, 



OBSEEVATIONS ON PEIMARY SCHOOLS, SCHOOL DISCIPLINE, 
SCHOOL RECORDS, ETC. 



By W. H. wells, A.M., 

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CHICAGO, AND LATE PRINCIPAL OF THE 
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, WESTFIELD, MASS. 



NEW YORK : 
A. S. BARKES & BURR, 51 & 53 JOHIST-STREET. 

CHICAGO: GEORGE SHERWOOD. 
1862. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, 

By a. S. BAENES & BURE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



Kennie, Shea a Lindsay, 
stereotypers and electbotrpers, 

81, 83, & 85 CENTRE-STREET, 

GEORGE W. WOOD, Printer, 
No. 2 Dutch-st., N. Y. 



PREFACE 



The Graded Course of study here presented, is 
substantially the Course adopted in the Public 
Schools of Chicago. It is believed to combine the 
best elements of the different systems adopted in 
Eoston, INTew York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. 
Louis, and other cities. 

Most of the Directions which accompany the 
Course have been suggested by the author's diary 
of visits to the schools of Chicago and other cities ; 
and they are designed to supply the deficiencies 
most frequently observed in schools, and to correct 
the most common faults. 

The kind reception of the author's Seventh An- 
nual Report, which embraced a large portion of the 
Course here presented, and the success of the system 
in the schools of Chicago, have induced the belief 
that the same Graded Course and accompanying 
Directions may prove acceptable to teachers in the 
present revised form. ■ 



4 PREFACE. 

For a more full elucidation of the special features 
of the Course, the reader is referred to the Intro- 
duction. 

Several brief articles on Discipline, Records, and 
other topics, are appended to the Course, in the 
hope that they may add somewhat to its value. 

W. H. W. 

Chicago, July, 1862. 



INTRODUCTION, 



A Geaded School is a school in which the pupils 
are divided into classes according to their attain- 
ments, and in which all the pupils of each class at- 
tend to the same branches of study at the same 
time.* 

Number and Division of Grades. — In all cities 
and large towns, there are numerous transfers from 
one public school to another. As pupils from dif- 
ferent schools are thus brought together, it is often 
found that those who are equally advanced in one 

* "All the pupils in any one class attend to precisely the same- 
studies and use the same books. In each room there will be a first 
and a second class, and it is important that the identical pupils 
which constitute the first class in one branch should constitute the 
first class in every branch pursued by the class. By this arrange- 
ment, while one class is reciting, the other is preparing for recita- 
tion, and an alternating process is kept up through the day, afford- 
ing the pupils ample time to study their lessons, and the teacher 

ample time to instruct each class This is what is meant by a 

graded and classified school." — Ira Divoll, Superintendent of Schools, 
St, Louis. 

"The due classification and grading of the schools is but the ap- 
plication to the educational cause of the same division of labor that 
prevails in all well-regulated business establishments, whether me- 
chanical, commercial, or otherwise. It is not only the most eco- 
nomical, but without it there can be little progress or prosperity." 
— E. O. Hickoh, late Superintendent of Public Instruction of Pennsylvania. 



b INTRODUCTION. 

branch of study are very unequally advanced in 
other branches. This creates constant confusion and 
inconvenience in the classification. Hence the im- 
portance of some uniform system of gradation in all 
the schools of a city or town. 

It is obviously unreasonable to expect one school 
to make the same progress, in all cases, as another 
more favorably situated ; but it is not impracticable 
so to arrange the course of study, that there may be 
certain stand-points in it, at which the pupils shall 
be required to reach a given standard of attainment 
in all the parallel branches, and from which no one 
shall be allowed to advance in one branch before all 
the other branches are brought up to the same stand- 
ard. At these particular points, it is plain that the 
pupils will be together in all the branches in all the 
schools ; and if these points are made sufficiently 
numerous in the course, a pupil may pass from one 
school to any other in the city or town, at any time, 
and he will find some class equally advanced with 
himself in all the studies. 

In classifying the pupils of cities and large towns, 
it has been found convenient to divide all that be- 
long to the Grammar and Primary Schools into ten 
grades — four Grammar Grades and six Primary. In 
smaller towns a less number of grades will be found 
more convenient. 

In order to give efficiency and value to a graded 
course of study, it is important that the divisions 
between the successive grades should be plainly and 
sharply defined. Special cases may sometimes oc- 
cur, in which it will be necessary for a time to relax 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

the stringency of tliis rule ; but these cases should 
be made as few and brief as possible."^ 

In the course herewith presented, the number of 
pages or chapters belonging appropriately to each 
grade, can not be given with exactness, since the 
text-books adopted in different cities and towns do 
not always correspond, either in the number of vol- 
umes or in the extent to which the subjects are car- 
ried. The divisions of the several branches in the 
present course, are made as definite as the circum- 
stances will allow. They are the result of systematic 
experiments extending over a period of several years, 
together with a careful study of the classification 
adopted in a large number of cities and towns. 

'No pupil should be advanced from one grade to 
another, till he has first sustained a thorough and 
satisfactory test-examination on all the branches of 
the grade from which he is to be transferred. These 
examinations by the Superintendent or Principal, at 
frequent and regular periods, comparing the attain- 
ments of each grade with a fixed and known stand- 
ard, will try every teacher's work, and award to the_ 
most deserving the credit which justly belongs to 
them. 

General DireGtions accomjyanying the Graded 



* " other things being equal, the closer the classification the bet- 
ter the school system." — R. F. Cowdery, Superintendent of Schools, 
Sandusky, Ohio. 

" The advantages of the union school arise chiefly from the grad- 
ing. The more perfect, therefore, the grading, the more certain 
and marked will be the success of these schools." — J. M. Gregory y 
State Superintendent of Schools, Michigan. 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

Course. — Of the large body of teachers engaged in 
public schools, many of whom are inexperienced, 
and all of whom are controlled, in a greater or less 
degree, by habits formed under a variety of different 
influences, it is not to be expected that all will reach 
the same standard of excellence,^ nor is it desirable 
that all should attempt to reach this standard in 
precisely the same way. The individuality of each 
teacher must be preserved, and his originality and 
invention should be constantly tasked. There are, 
however, certain principles which belong to every 
good system of instruction, and the teacher who 
claims the privilege of rejecting these because he 
thinks he can teach better in some other way, is an 
unworthy member of the profession.' 

Public- school teachers are as faithful and pro- 
gressive as any class of persons in the community, 
and yet cases will constantly occur in every city and 
town, in which suggestions repeatedly given by 
School Directors and Superintendents, are repeated- 
ly forgotten. The power of habit is strong, and will, 
in many cases, reassert its claims even against the 
best intentions to resist it; and there are always 
some whose sympathies are not fully enlisted in 
their work, and who need to be admonished by a 
uniform standard of duty, kept always before them. 

In preparing these directions and observations, 
the mere correction of errors has not been my high- 
est object. I would fain hope that they may be the 
means of aiding all classes of teachers in their efforts 
to introduce improvements and advance the stand- 
ard of excellence in their modes of instruction. I 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

have taken special care to give no directions that 
will check the enterprise of progressive teachers, 
and I believe that no one will be found to act against 
any thing except positive errors and inferior meth- 
ods of instruction. 

On the various and somewhat numerous points to 
which these suggestions relate, they are offered as a 
substitute for a constant visit from Superintendents 
and School Directors. 

Practicalness in Teaching — Oral Instruction. — 
The regular course of school studies, in most cities 
and towns, is already sufficiently extended, and yet 
it is notorious that pupils leave the public schools 
lamentably deficient on a great variety of subjects 
connected with a sound practical education. 

It is found impracticable to introduce the study 
of physiology in the Grammar Divisions, with an 
additional text-book and a course of daily recita- 
tions; and so most of the pupils complete their 
course without any knowledge of the important 
functions of the lungs and heart, and the general 
laws of health. We can not add the study of miner- 
alogy and geology to the course ; and pupils go out 
from the schools without any satisfactory knowledge 
of the materials employed in constructing the flag- 
stones on which they walk. We can not introduce 
natural philosophy ; and most pupils leave without 
any definite knowledge of the principle involved in 
rowing a boat, or even in floating it. We can not 
add chemistry ; and pupils leave without being able 
to explain the rising of a loaf of bread, or the burn- 
ing of a common fire. 



12 



INTEODUCTION. 



And yet, a careful study of the philosophy of edu 
cation will show, that the schools are all this time 
suffering for the want of the relaxation which would 
be afforded by a systematic course of oral instruc- 
tion, exactly suited to supply these important de- 
ficiencies."^ 

A series of oral lessons, occupying fifteen minutes 
a day, and continued through the entire course of 
the Grammar Department, would be sufiicient to 
embrace a wide range of practical exercises in com- 
mon philosophy, and common things. Such a course 
of lessons w^ould introduce an agreeable variety, 
without interfering with the successful prosecution 
of the other branches. If called up at the right 

* "Nor need any one fear that the use of object lessons will 
diminish the amount of book-learning that will be acquired by the 
pupils. On the contrary, experience proves that the little child 
will learn to read faster and better, under a course of instruction 
audi as proposed, while the older pupils will go forward with more 
intelligence and ease, when the theoretical statements of the text- 
books are prepared for and illustrated by the plain facts of sense. 
All teaching in our schools would gain both in vividness and value 
if a more frequent appeal were made from -the facts as stated in 

books to the facts as they are exhibited in the world without 

Oi\r knowledge of the nature and uses of common things and our 
skill in common affairs — that knowledge and skill which constitute 
the implements of our daily work and influence — are obtained not 
from books, but from the action of our senses and the exercise of 
our individual powers."—/. 31. Gregory, Superintendent of Public In- 
structio7i, Michigan. 

" Oral training lessons, in natural science and the arts, are found 
to be not merely a highly intellectual exercise, but are valuable to 

persons in every rank of society Children of both sexes 

should be exercised daily on some point of science or the arts, par- 
ticularly in relation to ordinary life and common things." — David 
Stow, Founder of Glasgow Normal Training Seminary. 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

time, it would infuse new life and vigor in the 
classes, and prepare tliem to do more in the time 
that remains, than thej would otherwise accomplish 
even with the additional fifteen minutes. 

In many cities and towns, considerable attention 
is already given to object lessons and other conversa- 
tional exercises, in the Primary Divisions, In some 
schools these elementary object lessons are admira- 
ble, and could hardly be improved f" but it is prob- 
ably true that in a majority of cases, where object 
teaching is introduced, the teachers do not attempt 
any thing like a systematic and progressive course 
of lessons, while many teachers conduct these exer- 
cises without any definite object in view. 

Instruction by ohject lessons is a method compara- 
tively new in this country, and many teachers do 
not know how^ to set themselves at work. The sub- 
jects are often selected in the upper grades without 
any regard to the topics already discussed in the 
grades below ; and some teachers seem to think that 
they have given a satisfactory ohject lesson^ when 
they have conducted a free conversation on some 
common subject, even though the children may not 
have gained one new idea of the properties and re- 
lations of objects, nor learned the use of a single 
new w^ord. 

In the course of instruction herewith presented, I 



* In Oswego, N. Y., the Pestalozzian system of object teaching 
is fully and successfully introduced in all the Primary Schools. 
The system herewith presented was adopted in the Chicago schools 
in March, 1861. Many of the principal features of the course were 
adopted as early as 1857. 

2 



14 INTRODrCTION. 

have endeavored to digest a pretty full outline of a 
systematic and progressive oral course, embracing 
object teaching, moral lessons, and other conversa- 
tional exercises, and extending through all the Gram- 
mar and Primary Grades."^ It has been a leading 
object with me to supply in this oral course the lack 
of jyracticalness to which I have already alluded. 
Though necessarily confined to the limits of a mere 
syllabus, and not designed to relieve teachers from 
the labor of making special preparation for the daily 
lesson s,f I trust it will be found sufficiently full to 
guide even inexperienced teachers in the selection 
and arrangement of topics, and in the general method 
of treating them. References are made to some of 
the principal sources of information on the various 
subjects introduced, and other sources will occur to 
teachers as they have occasion to employ them. 

* " Object lessons should not only be carried on after quite a 
different ftishion from that commonly pursued, but should be ex- 
tended to a range of things far wider, and continued to a period far 
later than now. They should be so kept up during youth, as in- 
sensibly to merge into the investigations (ff the naturalist and the 
man of science." — Herbert Spencer. 

t " It will always be found true that whatever method saves the 
teacher from the burden of thinking, prevents the pupils from real- 
izing the most valuable results of education, — correct habits of 
thought, and a well-disciplined mind." — New York School Report. 



COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

FOE A GRADED SCHOOL, 

EMl^RACING THE 

GRAMMAR AND PRIMARY DEPARTMENTS; 

WITH 

ACCOMPANYING DIRECTIONS TO TEACHERS. 



Note. — The Regular Course of Instruction and the Directions to Teach- 
ers are preserved distinct from each other, in difierent sizes of type, and 
each is complete in itself. For convenience of reference, the directions 
are numbered consecutively through the course. 

All the directions designed to be consulted with any grade, are either 
found in connection with the regular course for that grade, or they are 
referred to directly by numbers. 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR ALL THE GRADES. 

§ 1. Heading. — Teachers should adhere rigidly to 
the rule, that no reading lesson is to be left till the 
pupils understand the meaning of every word con- 
tained in it, and are able to express that meaning in 
their own language. When definitions are given by 
the author, in connection with the lesson, the pupils 
should be required to give other definitions of their 
own, or modify those of the author, so as to satisfy 
the teacher that the real meaning is comprehended. 
It is highly important that pupils should not only 
imderstand the meaning of words when taken by 



16 ' COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Directions. 

themselves, but that they should also understand 
tlieir meaning and use in connection with other 
words. For this purpose, tliej sliould often be re- 
quired, after giving the definition of a word, to em- 
body it in a short sentence. Even this exercise falls 
short of the highest end of intellectual reading. 
Pupils should often be called on to explain the im- 
port of phrases, and sentences, and even of Avhole 
paragraphs."^^ Explanations and illustrations should 
also be added by the teacher ; but let it ever be 
borne in mind, that an explanation drawn from the 
scholar is of far more value to him than the same 
explanation furnished by others. 

While examples are constantly occurring in which, 
pupils do not read "with the understanding," there 
is also an opposite fault that is equally to be shunned. 
Some teachers seem to suppose that the principal 
object of a school exercise in reading, is to under- 
stand the meaning of the piece read. This is a mis- 
take. The principal object is to read the piece so as 
to express that meaning. The sense of the piece 
must be studied then, not in this case as an end^ but 
as a msans to enable the pupil to execute the read- 

* " From the moment that a child knows the powers of the let- 
ters, and readily associates with the written form the pronunciation 
which it represents, his attention should be directed to the ideas. 
His progress in the art of reading should be regulated by his intel- 
lectual progress. The power of reading different words should not 
anticipate his power of understanding them. The habit, early ac- 
quired, of associating the ideas with their written signs, will secure 
his acquisition of the art of reading, and make it a delightful occu- 
pation . ' ' — Marcel . 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 17 

Eeacling. 

ing successfully. This being tlie case, it is obviously 
a great fault to spend half or three-fourths of the 
hour allotted to a reading lesson, in discussing the 
meaning of words and the general sense of the pas- 
sages read. 

While a class is engaged in reading, it should re- 
ceive the undivided attention of the teacher. If the 
teacher is necessarily called away, by all means sus- 
pend the exercise. It is far better to omit a lesson 
altogether, than to leave the pupils to read by them- 
selves. 

The voice of the teacher should be frequently 
heard in every reading exercise, as an example for 
the scholars to imitate. It is by imitation that chil- 
dren learn to talk, and their skill and accuracy in 
reading will depend mainly upon the character of 
the models which are brought before them. A child 
may make a dozen trials in reading a sentence, and 
not only fail every time, but read it worse and worse, 
if he does not hear it read correctly by the teacher 
or by some member of the class. 

The use of capitals and italics, marks of punctua- 
tion, quotation points, and all other marks eraploj^ed 
in the reading lessons, should be learned as fast as 
examples present themselves. 

Teachers should be particularly on their guard 
against adopting unsatisfactory modes of teaching 
this important branch, and allowing them to be con- 
firmed into habit. In conducting classes over. the 
same ground from term to term, and from year to 
year, some teachers lose their interest in the e-xer- 



18 



COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



General Directions. 



cise, and fall imconsciouslj below their own previous 
standard. A good method must be secured by effort 
and retained by efibrt. Effort relaxed always leads 
to retrogression. 

§ 2. Spelling. — In conducting oral exercises in 
spelling, pupils should pronounce each word dis- 
tinctly before spelling it, and they should never be 
allowed to try twice on a word."^ Whenever a pupil 
misses a word, let him afterv/ard be required to 
spell it correctly. This may be done as soon as the 
correction is made in the class, or deferred till the 
close of the recitation. 

In giving out the words to a class, teachers some- 
times commit the error of departing from the ordi- 
nary pronunciation, for the sake of indicating the 
orthography. Thus in the word variance^ the vowel 
in the second syllable is given very distinctly as 
long i, to show that the letter is i and not e. The 
words should in all cases be pronounced exactly as 
they are pronounced by a correct reader. f 

As pupils are constantly liable to misunderstand 
the pronunciation of words, it is a very useful prac- 
tice, in all written exercises, to call on some pupil in 
the class to repronounce each word distinctly, as 
soon as it is pronounced by the teacher. 

* " One trial is better than a score of guesses, both to decide 
whether the pupil has mastered the lesson, and to Insure its study- 
in future." — B. G. Northrop, Agent Massachusetts Board of Education. 

f " An undue emphasis, or prolongation of the utterance of a 
syllable, may enable t'u' scholar to spell the word as pronounced, 
but will never make him an expert speller of words as properly 
spoken. " — Northend. 



FOK GRADED SCHOOLS. 19 



Spelling. 



Special attention should be given to syllabication, 
in connection with both written and oral spelling. 
In oral spelling, pupils should syllabicate in all cases, 
as in the following example : a-m am^jp-l-i pli^ arapli^ 
f-y fy^ amplify. In written spelling, it may not be 
necessary to syllabicate at every recitation ; but in 
a portion of the exercises, even in written spelling, 
pupils should be required to divide the syllables, 
and failures should be marked as errors."^" 

Teachers should bear constantly in mind, that un- 
less habits of correct spelling are formed early, there 
is very little probability that they will ever be ac- 
quired. 

However thorough the drill in spelling may be, 
from the lessons of the speller and reader, every 
teacher should have frequent and copious exercises 
in spelling words from other sources. These should 
be words in common use, chosen as far as possible 
from the range of the pupil's observation, including 
the new words that arise in object lessons, and in 
geography, arithmetic, grammar, etc. The more dif- 
ficult of these words should be written in columns 
on the blackboard, and studied and reviewed with 
the same care as lessons from the speller and reader. 
Failures in spelling these words should be marked 
with errors, the same as failures in any other lessons. 

Teachers should put forth their best efforts, espe- 
cially in primary classes, to secure the attention of 

* " If this division of words into their proper syllables is to be 
learned by itself, it will be found an enormous labor ; but if learned 
while spelling, it will hardly add any thing to that task." — Mann. 



20 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Directions. 

tlie pupils, and' render the lessons as interesting as 
possible. Occasional exercises in " choosing sides," 
when properly conducted, may be made highly use- 
ful. The exercise of " spelling down" a class may 
also be resorted to occasionally with good effect. 

If a teacher finds at any time, while conducting 
an oral exercise in spelling, that a portion of his 
class are becoming listless, he can easily recall their 
attention by the following simple measure: The 
whole class pronounce distinctly the word given by 
the teacher, as notation; then one scholar says n; 
the next o; the next pronounces the syllable no; 
the next says t; the next a; the next ta; the next 
nota; the next t; the next i; the next o; the next 
n; the next tion; then the whole class pronounce 
the word flotation. 

Another useful method is to read a sentence of 
reasonable length, and require the members of a 
class to spell the words in order ; the first scholar 
spelling the first word, the next scholar the second, 
and so on to the end.^ 

§ 3. Writing. — Writing should be taught as a 
simultaneous class exercise, all the members of the 
class attending to the same thing at the same time.f 

In conducting exercises in writing, teachers should 

* For other directions respecting exercises in spelling, both 
written and oral, teachers are referred to Northend's Teacher's As- 
sistant. 

t The advantages of this system of teaching, over that in which 
different pupils of a class are allowed to write from different copies 
or in different books, at the same time, have been fully demon- 
strated in the schools of Boston, Chicago, and other cities. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 21 

Writing ; Concert Exercises. 

make constant use of the blackboard. Important 
letters and principles of the copy should be written 
on the board, both correctly and incorrectly, illus- 
trating the excellences to be attained and the errors 
to be avoided. Teachers who are not accustomed to 
this mode of illustrating, will find that they can 
easily qualify themselves to introduce it.'^' 

Many teachers who excel in imparting a knowl- 
edge of other branches, teach pemnanship only in- 
differently well. Teachers who have little taste for 
this exercise should discipline themselves to in- 
creased effort. Even a j)oor writer may make a 
good teacher of jDcnmanship ; and no one who at- 
tempts to teach waiting is excusable for not teaching 
it successfully.f 

Exercises of special excellence should receive 
marks of special credit ; and deficiencies resulting 
from carelessness or indifference, should in all cases 
receive marks of error and affect the scholarship 
averages as much as failures in any other lessons. 

§ 4. Concert Exercises. — In all the lower grades of 



Reference. — § 4. Barnard's Object Teaching, Art. 13. 

* " Where the best results were produced, the blackboard was in 
constant use, and a whole section of pupils wrote the same copy at 
the same time. In some divisions, the blackboard did not seem to 
be used at all in teaching this branch. Such a neglect shows a 
want of competency, or a want of faithfulness on the part of the 
teacher." — Report of Boston School Committee. 

t " A bad handwriting ought never to be forgiven ; it is shameful 
indolence ; indeed, sending a badly-written letter to a fellow-crea- 
ture is as impudent an act as I know of." — Niebukr. 



22 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



General Directions. 



the Primary Department, brief concert exercises 
slioiild be introduced, as often as once a day, in con- 
nection with reading, spelling by letters, spelling by 
sounds, arithmetical tables, etc. ; but they should in 
no case occupy more time than the individual exer- 
cises. They are only means to an end ; not the end 
itself. Their proper use is to aid in securing the 
success of individual efforts. Frequent concert ex- 
ercises should also be introduced in connection v^ith 
reading, in the upper divisions of the Primary De- 
partment, and in all the divisions of the Grammar 
Department. 

Great care should be taken, in all concert exer- 
cises, to secure free and natural tones of voice. It is 
always better to dispense with exercises in concert, 
than to have them become a means of forming bad 
habits in modulation and inflection. 

§ 5. Rapid Combinations in Arithmetic. — Classes 
in Arithmetic should have frequent extemporaneous 
exercises in combining series of numbers, involving 
the principles which they have gone over. These 
numbers should be given by the teacher, slowly at 
first, and afterward with more and more rapidity, 
as the pupils are able to carry forward the compu- 
tations. The following is an example : Take 5, add 
3, add 10, subtract 9, multiply by 8, add 20, add 8, 
subtract 40, divide by 10, — result ? Those who are 
prepared to answer raise the hand, and the teacher 
calls on one or more of them individually, for the 
answer, or on all together. Exercises of this kind 
Bhould be commenced as soon as pupils are able to 



FOE GRADED SCHOOLS. 23 

Good Language. 

add simple numbers together, and continued through 
the entire course. Similar examj)les may occasion- 
ally be carried rapidly round a class, each pupil 
giving in turn the result for one step of the process, 
with as little delay as possible. 

§ 6. Good Langioage. Composition. — Teachers 
should be watchful on all occasions, and especially 
during recitations, to secure habits of readiness and 
precision in the use of language. Every question 
should receive a complete and grammatical answer. 
Teachers should be clear and accurate in their own 
expressions, and impress uj^on their pupils the im- 
portance of selecting at all times the best words and 
phrases, and forming the hcibit of using good lan- 
guage in early life. As fast as new words are 
learned in the various oral exercises, the children 
should be required to embody them in spoken or 
written sentences, and thus fasten their meaning 
and uses securely in the memory.* 



Reference. — § 6. Manual of Elementary Instruction, vol. 2, 
article, Language. 

* ' ' Great attention should be given to the language used in the 
school-room, both by teachers and pupils. It should be pure 
English, free from all provincialisms ; and the construction of the 
sentences should be grammatical. It is of the utmost importance 
that the teachers of our Primary scholars should be accurate in the 
use of language ; quick to notice, and prompt to correct all " bad 
grammar" heard in their school-rooms. No dang^ no useless ex- 
pletives, no unnecessary repetitions, no obsolete words, no viola- 
tions of orthography or syntax, should, at any time, or under any 
circumstances, be allowed to pass without careful correction. The 
power of expression may be cultivated by '"Object Lessons" and 



24 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Directions. 

Exercises in composition may be introduced in 
such a manner, that pupils will never regard them 
as irksome tasks. With proper care and skill on 
the part of the teacher, they may be made as 'inter- 
esting and attractive as any of the exercises of the 
school. The following are some of the first steps 
that may be taken to secure this object : 

(1.) Let the pupil take his slate to a window during 
a recess, and write down any thing that he hears 
from the children in the play-ground. At the close 
of the recess, let him read before his class what he has 
written, and he will be interested to learn that th6 

conversation. Pupils should also be advised and required to write 
much. Recitations may sometimes be conducted by writing, and 
will be found mutually profitable. Questions should be pointed 
and precise ; answers should be concise and exact. Every answer 
should embrace a complete proposition. Frequently the pupil gives 
the answer only in part. Every exercise, and every recitation 
should be so conducted as to habituate the scholars to correct, 
terse, and elegant modes of expression. All indistinctness of utter- 
ance, all clipping of words, all hesitancy of speech, should at once 
be noticed and the proper remedies faithfully applied." — /. G. 
McMynn. 

" Conversational Lessons. — One great object in early education should 
be to awaken the mind of children to activity, and to furnish them 
with language. Conversational lessons are well calculated to effect 
these objects, inasmuch as they accustom children to speak of 
things they daily see and use ; leading .them to make their own 
observations upon such things, and in their turn to ask for further 
information. 

'* These lessons are of course conducted without any formality, 
and do not require any particular hints. The subjects chosen are 
very simple, and the teacher ought to be quite easy and familiar, 
letting the children take the lead ; merely stimulating them by 
judicious questioning." — Manual of Elementary Instruction. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 25 



Morals and Manners, 



sentences from tlie different scholars are so many 
little compositions. He will then understand, that 
every time he speaks a sentence, he makes a compo- 
sition, and if he will, only write it on his slate or on 
paper, it will be a written composition. 

(2.) Select a common and familiar subject, as a 
horse, and ask the pupil various questions respecting 
it. As he gives his answers, let him write them down 
on his slate. He will soon find that he has written 
an original composition, almost without effort. 

(3.) At the close of an object lesson on any famil- 
iar subject, let the pupils WTite or print on their 
slates every thing they can remember of the descrip- 
tion that has been given, and read their exercises in 
turn before the class. 

These different exercises should be examined care- 
fully by the teacher, and the errors that occur in 
language, orthography, punctuation, etc., should be 
kindly pointed out and corrected before the class. 
The pupils should then be required to rewrite their 
exercises correctly. 

The establishment of a school paper, sustained by 
the pupils, under the general direction of the teacher, 
is one of the best means of cultivating this import- 
ant art. 

§ 7. Morals and Manners. — Love to parents and 
others, friendship, kindness, gentleness, obedience, 

References. — § 7. Oalkins's Object Lessons ; Cowdery's Moral 
Lessons, and Cowdery's Primary Moral Lessons ; Barnard's 
Object Teaching, arts. Y, 9, and 12 ; Hooker's ITatural History, 
chap. 36; Willson's Third Reader; Barnard's Journal of Edu- 



26 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Directions. 

honesty, truthfulness, generosity, self-denial, neat- 
ness, diligence, etc., are cultivated in children, not 
so much by direct exhortation and formal precept, 
as by resorting to expedients that will call these 
aifections and qualities into active exercise. Lead 
a child to do a kind act, and you will increase his 
kindness of heart ; and this is the best of all lessons 
on kindness. Let teachers ever remember that the 
exercise of virtuous principles^ confirmed into habit ^ 
is the true means of establishing a virtuous character. 

Little anecdotes and familiar examples, illustrating 
the love of brothers and sisters, the respect due to the 
aged, kindness to animals, mutual love of compan- 
ions and associates, benevolence, etc., are among the 
best means of cultivating these virtues. Such a work 
as " Cowdery's Moral Lessons," teaching mainly by 
examples, will accomplish far more than the same 
principles when abstracted from the narratives in 
which they are found, and embodied in a formal cat- 
echism of moral instruction."^ 

Teachers should frequently read to their divisions 
short, ehtertaining narratives, and make them the 
subjects of familiar and instructive conversations 
with their pupils. So also in lessons on animals, 
trees, and all the works of nature, opportunities 
should be constantly improved to show the wisdom, 



oation, vol. 1, art. 10; Dwight's Higher Christian Education; 
Hall's Manual of Morals; Mayhew's Popular Education, chap. 8. 

* "Nature, reason, and experience proclaim this order, example 

before precept. '■' — Marcel . 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 27 

Morals and Manners. 

power, and goodness of the Creator, and to inculcate 
the reverence that is due to Him, and a sense of de- 
pendence upon Him. 

Every case of quarreling, cruelty, fraud, profanity, 
and vulgarity, should be made to appear in its true 
light. The selfishness of children is the greatest ob- 
stacle to moral training. To moderate this strong 
instinct, to teach self-denial and self-control, must 
be the constant care of the teacher. 

There is no time when the watchfulness of the 
teacher is more necessary than during the recesses 
and other hours of relaxation at school. This is the 
time when little differences are most likely to spring 
up, and bad passions to gain the ascendency. 'No 
parent's eye is upon the children, and yet they 
should constantly feel that some kind guardian is 
near — not to check their cheerful sports, but to en- 
courage every kind and noble act, and to rebuke 
every departure from the path of virtue and honor.* 

* " Let the play-grounds never be left without the supervision of 
a teacher when the pupils are there. To accomplish this, they 
should not be opened to pupils till a fixed hour, when the teacher 
should be present. If the recesses, also, be given to both sexes at 
once, the teacher may go with his pupils on to the play-ground, and 
while he encourages the cheerful hilarity of the games, his presence 
will hold in awe the quarrelsome spirits or profane lips, which will 
otherwise work so much evil. It is the unwatched and unrestrained 
association of the pupils, good and bad, upon the play-ground, that 
forms one of the most fruitful sources of moral corruption. Remove 
this, and we have abated, at one blow, more than one half of the 
dangers that attend our schools,"— -J. M. Gregory, State Superintend- 
ent of Public Instrudian, Michigan. 

See also Young's Teachers' Manual. 



28 COrRSE OF INSTRUCTION 



Geuei-al Directions. 



Good morals are intimately connected with good 
manners^ and teachers shonld improve every oppor- 
tunity to inculcate lessons of civility and courtesy. 
In the Primary divisions, especially, the teachers 
should give frequent and somewhat minute direc- 
tions respecting the ordinary rules of politeness. 
Let the pupils be taught that when a question is 
asked them, it shows a lack of good breeding to re- 
main silent or shake the head, even if they are not 
able to answer it. They should receive some gen- 
eral directions respecting the manners of younger 
persons in the presence of those who are older. 
They should be taught that well-bred persons sel- 
dom laugh at' mistakes, etc. The manners of the 
children in their intercourse with each other before 
and after school, and at the recesses, and in going 
to and from school, should receive the constant and 
watchful care of the teacher. 

§ 8. Oral Exercises. — The oral lessons of the course 
are not intended to be exhaustive and complete ; but 
they present a pretty full outline of most of the exer- 
cises that should be introduced. This outline should 
be filled out, and, in most cases, extended by the 
teachers ; but none of the subjects introduced should 
be omitted. 

" In every exercise, it is of the highest importance 
that there should be some definite aim and purpose, 



References. — § 8. Calkins's Object Lessons, pp. 291-348 ; 
Barnard's Object Teaching, arts. 2 and 12 ; Hailman's Object 
Teaching. 



F(~>K GRADED SCHOOLS. 29 

Oral Exercises ; Reviews, etc. 

and that the teacher should work with reference to 
obtahiing certain results."'^ 

The oral lessons of the Grammar divisions are de- 
signed to occupy an amount of time equal to about 
fifteen minutes a day. This will be found more than 
sufficient to present all the topics introduced. 

An outline of each oral exercise should be written 
out and preserved for review. This may be done by 
the teacher on the blackboard, or by the pupils on 
slates or paper, as the exercise progresses ; or the 
pupils may be required to write it out from memory 
immediately after the close of the lesson. 

§ 9. Reviews and Abstracts. — The time devoted to 
reviews, both, oral and written, should be very much 
increased. t 

Each lesson should be made, to some extent, a re- 
view of the previous lesson, without, however, con- 
suming very much time, except in cases in which 
the previous recitation has been unsatisfactory. 
Pupils should understand that they are liable to be 
called on to recite any portion of the previous lesson, 

*" Oswego Report." 

" Tha order in which the various impressions of objects and other 
facts oonnected with them should be considered, depends, to a great 
extent, on the knowledge which the pupil has already of the object. 

"The following are the principal facts to be considered, though 
not always in the order given, in the various objects: 1. Name; 
2. riace; 3. Touch, Sound. Odor, Taste; 4. Color ; 5. Shape; 6. Size; 
7. Malerial, U-^es. etc." — HaUman's Object Teaching. 

f " The great secret of being successful and accurate as a student, 
next to perseverance, is the constant habit of reviewing." — Todd's 
Student' s Manual. 

S« 



80 COURSE OF INSTETJCTION 

General Directions. 

and questions enough should be asked in review to 
make it necessary for them to read over the last les- 
son before coming to the recitation, unless their pre- 
vious preparation has been sufficient to fasten it in 
the memory. 

The oral lessons should, in most cases, be reviewed 
more than once, and in all cases till they are thor- 
oughly learned and remembered. 

In most of the studies in which the recitations oc- 
cur daily, one lesson of each week should be a review 
of the four preceding lessons. Classes reciting only 
two or three times a week may have a review every 
second week ; and there may be a few exceptional 
cases in which it will be best to have these reviews 
only once a month.* 

In the Primary divisions, the reviews will neces- 
sarily be oral ; but in the Grammar divisions they 
should be both oral and written. In the 1st, 2d, and 
3d grades, most of the classes should have at least 
one written review in a month, besides the oral re- 
views. 

It may be well, occasionally, to devote an hour to 
a written review of all the different branches, in one 
exercise, selecting ten or more questions promiscu- 
ously from all the studies of the class. 

In the five upper grades, all the classes should 
have occasional exercises in w^riting a few lines of 

* "The regulation recently adopted by the Board, requiring a 
weekly review of every class by its teacher, without the use of books, 
can not fail to accomplish much good, and encourage a more intel- 
ligent system of teaching." — New York Report. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 31 

Keviews and Abstracts. 

prose or verse, dictated orally by the teacher, as a 
test of their proficiency in spelling, punctuation, use 
of capitals, penmanship, etc. In the 4th and 5th 
grades, the pupils may use either pen or pencil, at 
the discretion of the teacher; but in the 1st, 2d, and 
3d grades they should be required in all cases to use 
a pen. These exercises should be strictly extempo- 
raneous, and every paper should be passed to the 
desk at the close of a specified time. 

In conducting written reviews, great care should 
be taken to remove from the pupils, so far as possi- 
ble, all temptation to seek assistance from books, or 
papers, or classmates. When two pupils of the class 
are seated at the same desk, it is often desirable to 
have two sets of questions of about equal difiiculty 
—one set for all the pupils sitting at one end of the 
desks, and one for those sitting at the other end. 

Written reviews- are among the most successful 
means that can be employed for securing thorough- 
ness and accuracy of scholarship. They afi'ord a 
reliable test of the pupil's knowledge of the subject, 
cultivate habits of freedom and accuracy in the use 
of language, and afiford a valuable discipline to the 
mind, by throwing the pupil entirely upon his own 
resources. 

In addition to the written reviews, teachers of the 
higher divisions should require frequent written ex- 
ercises in connection with the daily recitations in 
history, grammar, arithmetic, etc. 

All written reviews, abstracts, etc., should j^ass 
under the critical examination of the teacher; the 



32 COUESE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Directions. 

important errors should be corrected ; and pupils 
presenting papers carelessly written, should be re- 
quired to rewrite them. 

§ 10. N'tcmher of Classes in a Division. — As a gen- 
eral rule, the pupils assigned to each teacher in the 
Grammar Department, should be divided into two 
classes; in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, into 
three classes ; and in the 9th and 10th grades, into 
four. 

The number of pupils in a division, or other cir- 
cumstances, may make it desirable, in certain cases, 
to depart from this arrangement. 

It is desirable that each class in the Grammar 
Department should not number more than 20 or 25 
pupils, and each class in the lower grades not more 
than 10 or 15 pupils; but this arrangement is im- 
practicable where a division numbers more than 40 
or 50 pupils.* 

§ 11. Numhev of Branclies to hepitrsited at a time. 
— It requires the constant watchfulness of teachers to 
prevent pupils from undertaking too many branches 
of study at a time. Pupils should rarely be allowed 
to study more than three branches at once, besides 
reading, spelling, and writing; and it is generally 
better to have some of the lessons come only on 
alternate days than to have even the six exercises in 
one day. 

''' " In a large class, each of whom seldom, and at best only for a 
short time, receives individually any attention from the teacher, 
the progress is slow, the faculties little developed, and the educa- 
tion altogether very imperfect." — Eeid's Principles of Education. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 33 

Order of Exercises, etc. 

§ 12. Order of Exercises and Length of Recita- 
tions. — Every teaclier should have posted up in the 
room an established order of exercises for each day 
in the week, assigning a definite time for the begin- 
ning and ending of every exercise, and of every in- 
terval between the exercises. 

It is impracticable to establish a uniform rule re- 
specting the frequency and length of recitations. 
The following scale will serve as a general guide to 
teachers in this matter : 

Kecitations in the Grammar Department from 
twenty-five to forty minutes in length, except exer- 
cises in spelling, which may usually be completed in 
fifteen to twenty-five minutes ; in the 5th, 6th, and 
Yth grades, from twenty to twenty-five minutes ; in 
the 8th and 9th grades, from fifteen to twenty min- 
utes ; and in the 10th grade, from ten to fifteen 
minutes."^ 



* " From four to five lessons a day for a Primary school, is better 
than six, even for mental proficiency. A Primary school that has 
even five hours of session per day should have an hour or more of 
interval at midday. Besides, there should be one or two recesses 
during each session. The exercises of the school should be so ar- 
ranged as to give a change of position and subject as often as every 
fifteen or twenty minutes. No child will give sufficient attention 
to derive much benefit from a lesson that continues more than 
twenty minutes. Five and ten minute lessons, on some subjects, 
are better than longer ones. Lessons occupying different senses 
should follow each other, as the change affords relief to the mind." 
— N. A. Calkins, 

The following is the programme of exercises for two days of the 
week, in one of the Primary schools of Oswego, N. Y. It includes 
only the pupils of a single teacher, in the upper Primary grades, 



34 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Directions. 

§ 13. FTec[uency of Recitations. — The following 
arrangement will serve as a general guide, but cases 
may sometimes arise in which it will be necessary to 
depart from it : Classes in the 1st grade, two or three 
times a week ; in the 2d and 3d grades, three or four 

and is introduced here to show the minuteness of detail, the range 
of topics, and the arrangement and distribution of time and sub- 
jects, that have been adopted in a city that is distinguished for the 
excellence of its school system : 

MONDAY. 

8.30 to 8.45— Opening Exercises. 

8.45 to 8.55 — Moral Instruction. 

8.55 to 9.15— Beading, B, subd. 1. 

9.15 to 9.20— Gymnastics. 

9.20 to 9.35 — Lessons on Number, B, subd. 2. 

9.35 to 9.45— Recess. 

9.45 to 10.00 — Lesson on Place, A class. 
10.00 to 10.25— Reading, B, subd. 2. 
10.25 to 10.30— Gymnastics. 
10.30 to 10.50— Lesson on Number, B, subd. 1. 
10.50 to 11.00— Recess. 
11.00 to 11.20— Reading, A class. 
11.20 to 11.40— Writing on slates, B, subd. 1. 
11.40 to 12.00— Lesson on Number, A class. 
12.00 to 2.00— Intermission. 

2.00 to 2.20 — Lesson on Number, A class. 

2.20 to 2.30 — Lesson on Animals, A and B. 

2.30 to 2.35— Gymnastics. 

2.35 to 2.55— Reading, B, subd. 2. 

2.55 to 3.10— Lesson on Number, B, subd. 1, 

3.10 to 3.15— Calling Roll. 

3.15 to 3.30— Recess. 

3.30 to 3.45— Spelling, A class. 

8.45 to 4.10— Reading, B, subd. 1. 

4.10 to 4.30 — Reading, A class. 
4.30— Dismission. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 35 

Frequency of Recitations. 

times ; 4tli grade, four or five times ; 5tli and 6tli 
grades, five to eight times; Yth and 8tli grades, 
eight to ten times. 

Slate arithmetic, three or four times a week ; men- 
tal arithmetic, in 4th and 5tli grades, four or five 
times a week ; in 3d grade, three or four times ; in 
2d grade, two or three times. Numbers, in five 
lowest grades, five times a week. 





TUESDAY. 


8.30 to 


8.45— Opening Exercises. 


8.45 to 


9.00— Lesson on Form, B, subd'. 2. 


9.00 to 


9.15— Lesson on Weight, B, subd. 1. 


9.15 to 


9.20— Gymnastics. 


9.20 to 


9.35— Spelling, A class. 


9.35 to 


9.45— Recess. 


9.45 to 10.10— Reading, B, subd. 2. 


10.10 to 10.20— Drawing, B, subd. 1. 


10.20 to 


10.25— Gymnastics. 


10.25 to 10.50— Lesson on Number, B, subd. 1. 


10.50 to 11.00— Recess. 


11.00 to 11.15— Lesson on Objects, A class. 


11.15 to 11.35— Reading, B, subd. 1. 


11.35 to 


12.00— Lesson on Number, A class. 


12.00 to 


2.00— Intermission. 


2.00 to 


2.15— Lesson on Number, B, subd. 2. 


2.15 to 


2.30- Drawing, A class. 


2.30 to 


2. 35 — Gymnastics. 


2.35 to 


2.55— Reading, B, subd. 1. 


2.55 to 


3.10— Lesson on Weight, B, subd. 2. 


8.10 to 


3.16— Calling Roll. 


8.15 to 


3.30— Recess. 


8.30 to 


3.45— Lesson on Number, A class. 


3.45 to 


4.00— Lesson on Form, B, subd. 1. 


4.00 to 


4.10~Spelling, A class. 


4.10 to 


4.30— Lesson on Number, B, subd. 1. 




4.30 — Dismission. 



36 COUKSE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Directions. 

Geography, from three to five times a week. 

History, three or four times a week. 

Grammar from three to five times a week. 

Spelling, in 1st grade, two or three times a week ; 
2d and 3d grades, three or four times ; 4th grade, 
four or five times ; all grades below the 4th, eight 
to ten times. 

Writing, in the Grammar divisions, two or three 
times a week ; in the 5th and 6th grades, four or 
five times. See § 14. 

§ 14. Division of Time and Labor. — In deciding 
what proportion of time should be given to spelling 
by letters, what to spelling by sounds, to reading, to 
numbers, to geography, etc., the rule should be this : 
whenever a class is less advanced in one branch 
assigned to the division than in other branches, let 
that particular branch receive special attention till 
it is as familiar as the others. It is very common to 
find a class more advanced in reading than in num- 
bers, and still devoting less attention to arithmetic 
than to reading; the observance of this rule will 
correct all such errors. 

§ 15. RhetoriGol Exercises. — The first five grades 
should devote about one hour every Friday after- 
noon, to exercises in composition, declamation and 
recitation, and reading select pieces. The same 
course may be adopted in the other divisions, when 
the convenience of rooms and other circumstances 
permit. 

In the 1st and 2d grades, every pupil should be 
required to take a part in both the elocutionary and 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 37 

Khetorical Exercises. 

the composition exercises, as often as once a month. 
When pupils have im23ortant written abstracts or 
other similar exercises to prepare, these may in cer- 
tain cases be accepted as equivalents for the regular 
compositions. There may also be instances in which 
it will be best to accept the reading of a piece of 
poetry or other selection, as an equivalent for a 
declamation or recitation ; but in all ordinary cases 
it is better even for the girls to commit to memory 
the pieces which they recite.* 



* " The Recital. — Akin to the debate, we have introduced another 
exercise which, for want of a better name, is termed the Eecital. 
The primary object is to cultivate the power of clothing thought in 
appropriate language, and of presenting it in an easy, colloquial 
style, to a company of listeners. The pupil may select for a topic 
any thing that will require a description. It may be an event in 
history, a brief biographical sketch, the relation of current events, 
or a good story. The subject-matter for a Recital may be obtained, 
after reading a book, by forming a synoptical outline of the same, 
detailing the more interesting portions with a proper degree of 
minuteness. Among the topics which have been thus presented, 
are the following : ' Sir John Franklin,' in which was given a brief 
sketch of his life, explorations, loss, expeditions sent in search of 
him, and the discovery of his remains ; * Account of Lady Esther 
Stanhope,' ' Grace Darling,' 'The Sack of Rome,' 'Aaron Burr,' etc. 

" The exercise is equally adapted to both sexes. While it fur- 
nishes many of the advantages of the debate, it affords others of 
equal value. It accustoms the pupil to comprehend, with prompt- 
ness and ease, the substance of a volume or subject ; induces con- 
centration of thought ; cultivates memory ; encourages the habit of 
investigation ; affords practice in the use of language ; stores the 
mind with useful information ; forms the habit of noticing impor- 
tant facts and events, and imparts the power of presenting informa- 
tion to others with facility and in an agreeable manner. 

"The exercise greatly increases the interest of our 'general ex- 
4 



38 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Directions. 

§ 16. Mental Discipline. — The highest ultimate 
object of intellectual education, is mental discipline, 
and this discipline can only be acquired bj mental 
labor. Cases are constantly occurring in which 
pupils require explanation and assistance, and unless 
they receive this aid they will be greatly retarded in 
their progress. But examples are also frequently 
arising in which teachers give assistance that is not 
required, and thus rob the pupils of the discipline 
which they would gain by overcoming the difficul- 
ties themselves. Teachers should study carefully 
the capabilities of their pupils, and never do for 
them what they are able to do without assistance. 
Pupils should also be guarded against the dangerous 
habit of assisting one another, without the knowl- 
edge and approval of the teacher. 

It is one of the most important duties of the 
teacher, to exercise a watchful care over the pupils' 
hours and habits of study. Some pupils never learn 
to study a lesson abstractedly and with the whole 
mind ; and some teachers have heretofore been so 
unfortunate as not to know that they have any 
special responsibility in this matter. 

The power of attention is essential to the success- 
ful prosecution of study at every stage of prog- 



Beference. — § 16. Watts on the Mind. 



ercises,' stimulates the minds of the school to more elevated modes 
of thought and conversation, and induces a higher and more profit- 
able course of reading." — A. Parish, Principal of High School, Spring- 
field, Mass. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 39 

Tenth Grade. 

ress, and the best efforts of teachers should be 
directed to the cultivation of this great educational 
power.* 



TENTH GKADE. 
[primary department.] 

EEGULAE COURSE. 

Oral instruction, embracing lessons on common things ; on form, 
color, flowers, animals, morals and manners. Two or more lessons 
a day, each from five to eight minutes long. 

Eepeating verses and maxims, singly and in concert. 

Heading from blackboard and from charts, with exercises in spell- 
ing, both by letters and by sounds. Two or more lessons a day. 

Counting, from one to sixty. Simple exercises in adding, with 
use of numeral frame, pebbles, beans, etc. 

Drawing on the slate, imitating letters, figures, and other objects 
from blackboard sketches by the teacher, tablets, cards, and other 
copies. Printing the reading and spelling lessons, and the numer- 
als as far as learned. Two or more exercises a day. [All the pu- 
pils should be provided with slates and pencils.] 

Physical exercises as often as once every half hour ; eacb exercise 
from three to five minutes. See § 105. 

The recitations in this grade should never exceed twenty minutes 
in length. In ordinary lessons, fifteen minutes will be time enough, 
and in some lessons ten minutes. 

* " The surest way to succeed in cultivating and improving the 
other intellectual powers, is to acquire a command over attention, 
and to give it a useful direction." — Marcel. 

'• I was told by the Queen's Inspector of the Schools in Scotland, 
that the first test of a teacher's qualification is, his power to excite 
and to sustain the attention of his class. If a teacher can not do 
this, he is pronounced, without further inquiry, incompetent to 
teach." — Mann. 



4:0 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Tenth Grade. 

DIEECTIONS. 

§ IT. Oral Instruction. — The period embraced in 
the tenth grade should be regarded as a bridge from 
the freedom of home-life to the more regular disci- 
pline of the school-room.^' The first lessons should 
be simple conversational exercises upon home ob- 
jects, with which the children are already familiar, 
and in which they feel the greatest interest, — their 
toys, their plays, their friends, etc. 

In all the object lessons given in the 9th and lOtli 
grades, the teacher should bear in mind that the 
prominent objects to be accomplished are, to culti- 
vate habits of observation, imjDrove the perceptive 
faculties, and secure habits of accuracy in the use of 
language. See § 8. 

§ 18. In conducting conversational exercises in all 
the grades, teachers should be careful not to aid the 
pupils so much as to check their curiosity and de- 
prive them of the opportunity to discover and inves- 
tigate the properties of objects for themselves.f 



References. — § 17. Calkins's Object Lessons, pp. 11-40; 
TVelcti's Object Lessons, first 90 pages. 

* "As in the transplanting of the tree from the nursery to the 
orchard, its continued life and unchecked growth demand that 
there should be as little change of circumstances, as to climate, 
soil, and position, as possible, so in the transfer of the child from 
the nursery to the school-room, he should be led to feel the change 
as little as possible." — Report of Board of Education, Oswego, N. Y. 

f "The process of self development should be encouraged to the 
fullest estent. Children should be led to make their own investi- 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 41 



Form ; Color. 



§ 19. Form. — The first exercises may be devoted 
to straiglit lines, comparing short lines with long 
ones, and selecting the straight lines from the letters 
of the alphabet and other figures. Ilhistrate with 
slate and blackboard exercises. Adopt a similar 
course with curved lines, and continue the slate ex- 
ercises. Simple j)lane figures may also be intro- 
duced, as the square, the circle, the triangle. 

§ 20. Color. — With the help of a box of paints, 
the teacher can easily prepare a set of cards, each 
bearing a separate shade of color. Let the children 
be exercised in selecting particular shades of color. 
]^ext let them distinguish the colors in articles of 
dress, books, furniture of the room, etc. After this, 
they can exercise their memory in naming a variety 
of colors and shades of color that belong to objects 
not present. This will cultivate accuracy and pre- 
cision in the use of language, and prepare them for 



References. — § 19. Welch's Object Lessons ; Calkins's Object' 
Lessons ; Barnard's Object Teaching, arts. 9 and 12 ; Hill's First 
Lessons in Geometry. 

§ 20. Manual of Elementary Instruction, vol. 1 ; Calkins's 
Object Lessons ; Welch's Object Lessons ; Barnard's Object 
Teaching, arts. 9 and 12 ; Parker & Watson's Second Eeader, 
lesson 65; Science of Common Things, index; Eeason Why, 
index. 

gations, and to draw their own inferences. They should be told as 
little as possible, and induced to discover as much as possible. Hu- 
luanity has progressed solely by self-instruction ; and that to achieve 
the best results each mind must progress somewhat after the same 
fashion, is continually proved by the marked success of self-made 
men." — Herbert Spencer. 

4* 



42 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Tenth Grade. 

useful exercises in describing objects. Children 
should also be encouraged to bring to the school 
various articles representing as many different shades 
of color as they can find. 

§ 21. Flowers. — Flowers are among the first ob- 
jects that attract the special attention of childreD, 
and they furnish desirable subjects for some of the 
earliest object lessons of the school-room. The pu- 
pils should be encouraged to bring flowers to school, 
and exercised in distinguishing their names, colors, 
forms, etc., but all the lessons in this grade should 
be strictly rudimental. Flowers afibrd some of the 
best illustrations of the different shades of color, and 
may be studied profitably in connection with the 
study of color. 

§ 22. Anhnals. — Lessons on common domestic 
animals, as the horse, the cow, the dog, and the cat, 
are 'among the most entertaining and suitable exer- 
cises for pupils in this division. These lessons should 
be made very simple, extending only to the most 
familiar and obvious points, as form, color, size, 
speed, strength, food, covering, habits, uses, etc. 
The prominent object of these lessons should be to 
excite observation and cultivate feelings of hu- 
manity. Short anecdotes respecting the different 

References.— % 21. Child's Book of Nature, part 1 ; Manual 
of Elementary Instruction, vol, 2. 

§ 22. Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 9 ; Willson's Third 
Eeader ; Carll's Child's Book of Natural History ; Manual of 
Elementary Instruction, vol. 1. Also selected articles from the 
different school Keaders. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 43 



Verses and Maxims ; Readinj:^, etc. 



animals should be presented by the teacher, and, 
when practicable, drawn from the pnpils. Pictorial 
illustrations and outline sketches should be employed 
in connection with these exercises as far as practica- 
ble;* and the animals themselves should in some 
cases be brought to the school-room, if it can be 
done without materially interrupting the exercises. 

Morals and Manners. — See § 7. 

§ 23. Verses^ Maxims^ etc — A few simple, easy 
verses, embodying moral sentiments or useful infor- 
mation, will help to furnish an agreeable variety in 
the exercises. The children may also be taught to 
repeat a few brief maxims and sentiments, as, ''What 
is worth doing at all is worth doing well ;" ^' It is bet- 
ter to suffer wrong than to do wrong ;" "A place for 
every thing, and every thing in its place;" "E'ever 
leave till to-morrow what should be done to-day." 

§ 24. Reading and Spelling. — The first lessons in 
reading and spelling should be taught from the 
blackboard. First, present an object to the class, as 
a hat, and have the pupils pronounce the word hat. 
They already understand that the word which they 
hear represents the object which they see. Other 
illustrations of seeing and hearing^ as applied to the 
same object, may be introduced by the teacher, or 
drawn from the class. 



References.— %1^. Sanders's Third Eeader, lesson 50; Par- 
ker & Watson's Third Eeader, lesson 30 ; Chambers's Informa- 
tion for the People. 

* See Manual of Elementary Inatruction, vol. 1. 



44 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Tenth G-rade, 

'Next, print the name hat neatly on the black- 
board, and teach the class that the word which thej 
see represents the same thing as the word which 
they liear j and that both represent the object which 
they see before them. The word should now be pro- 
nounced by the class individually and in concert, 
with their attention directed to the board, till each 
member is able to call the word at sight. Similar 
exercises, with other w^ords, may be continued for 
several days; but no word should be introduced 
which the pupils can not be made to understand. 
Each new word placed upon the board, should be 
made the subject of familiar conversation, and, if 
practicable, of illustration, so that it may convey to 
the mind of the child a clear idea of the object rep- 
resented. 

As the spoken language consists of sounds, the 
teacher should now commence teaching the pupils 
to analyze these sounds and utter them separately. 
The words already learned should be employed for 
this purpose, so that the child may be required to 
learn only one new thing at a time. 

As soon as the pupils have learned to analyze all 
the words they have gone over, they may next learn 
the names of the letters, using the same words as 
before. 

After the class have learned in this way from five 
to ten words, so that all the children are able to call 
each word at sight, and spell it correctly, both by 
letters and by sounds, the teacher may introduce 
Primary Cards containing simple monosyllabic words 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 45 

Reading and Spelling. 

and sentences. The teacher should continue to print 
simple exercises on the blackboard, as before, and 
use them in connection with the lessons on the 
cards. See also §§ 1 and 2. 

§ 25. The pupils should now be required, at stated 
hours, to print every lesson neatly on their slates; 
and they should receive a mark of credit for every 
satisfactory effort. As often as once a day, they 
should be called on at recitation to read or spell a 
lesson from their slates. 

§ 26. From this time forward, let it be regarded 
as essential to the completeness of every lesson that 
each scholar shall be able to define all the words in- 
troduced, and spell them both by letters and by 
sounds.^" Teachers too often accept definitions that 
are exceedingly vague and defective, not to say erro- 
neous. The construction of a simple sentence em- 
bodying a word, is often, the most satisfactory defi- 
nition of it that can be given by the young learner.f 
Let it also be regarded as a rule of paramount im- 
portance, that every lesson learned shall afterward 
be made the subject of frequent and thorough re- 
views^ so that the pupils may not fail to retain what 
they have once acquired. 

* " Each difficult word should be uttered clearly, first by its ele- 
ments, and then by their combination." — Wm. H. McGuffy. 

f "More attention should be given to defining than it now re- 
ceives. The knowledge of the meaning of words possessed by most 
pupils in our scbools, is exceedingly limited. It \^ hy using words 
that we best learn their meaning ; hence one of the first exercises 
in a well-conducted Primary school is forming sentences which 
shall embrace the words of the reading lesson." — John G. McMynn, 



4:6 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Tenth' Grade. 

§ 27. An important direction to be observed from 
the commencement, is to give constant and special 
attention to articulation. There can be no good 
reading without correctness of articulation, and it is 
far easier to form good habits at first, than to cor- 
rect bad ones at a later period.* 

§ 28. Nimibers. — It is highly important that the 
first exercises in counting and adding should be 
illustrated by the use of the numeral frame and 
various convenient objects, such as pebbles, beans, 
kernels of corn, etc. Let each number or addition 
named be illustrated by a corresponding number or 
addition of objects. Let the children count around 
the class, each giving a number for himself in turn ; 
let them count the number of children in the room ; 
the lights of glass, the seats and desks, etc. 

See, also, §§ 4, 6, 10, 12. 



References. — § 28. Calkins's Object Lessons ; Barnard's Ob- 
ject Teaching, art. 12 ; Manual of Elementary Instruction, vol. 2. 

* "Every faculty of the mind, as well as of the body, with re- 
gard to its mode of action, has a strong tendency to take a set, ac- 
cording to the first impressions made upon it, or the character of 
its first observations. It becomes, as it were, preoccupied by the 
first impressions, to the exclusion or diminished force of succeeding 
impressions." — Eeid's Principles of Education. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 47 



Regular Course. 



NINTH GEADE. 
[primary department.] 

EEGULAR COURSE. 

Oral Instruction, embracing lessons on parts, form, and color, 
illustrated by common objects ; on plants ; on animals, mostly 
those with which the children are already familiar ; morals and 
manners ; miscellaneous topics. Two or more lessons a day, each 
from five to ten minutes long. 

Verses and maxims. 

Reading and Spelling. — Blackboard exercises continued. Cards 
reviewed. Primer completed. Spelling both by letters and by 
sounds. The exercises in both reading and spelling to be heard 
twice a day. 

Counting from one to a hundred, forward and backward. Read- 
ing and writing Arabic numbers to 50. Addition tables from black- 
board, to 4 -}- 10, forward and backward, in course ; also, by taking 
any of the numbers irregularly ; with use of numeral frame. Ex- 
temporaneous exercises in adding series of small numbers. See § 5. 
Roman numerals to L, both in course and out of course. 

Exercises, at least twice a day, with slate and pencil, using ele- 
mentary drawing-cards, plain figures, pictures placed on the black- 
board, and other copies ; and printing lessons in spelling, numer- 
als, etc. 

Physical exercises from two to five minutes at a time, not less 
than five times a day. See § 99. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Oral Instruction. — See §§ 8 and 18. 

§ 29. Parts. — Pupils in this division should have 
frequent exercises in distinguishing and naming the 
different jparts of which objects are composed. 

References. — § 29. Mayo's Object Lessons ; Manual of Ele- 
mentary Instruction. 



48 COUESE OF INSTRUCTION" 

Ninth Grade. 

Thus, the parts of the human frame, as the head, 
arms, shoulders, elbows, hands, wrists, fingers, nails, 
forehead, ejes, eyelids, teeth, etc. ; the parts of a 
house, as sides, ends, doors, "svindows, floors, roof, 
stairs, etc. ; the parts of a table, book, chair, tree, 
field, road, carriage, coat, knife, etc.* 

Form.—^QQ § 19. 

Color,— ^QQ § 20. 

§ 30. Plants. — Common and obvious properties 
and uses. Distinguish the parts, as roots, stem, 
leaves, buds, flowers, fruit, and seeds. See § 21. 



* ^'Object. — To concentrate observation on actions done in the 
sight of the children ; to call upon them to imitate those actions ; 
and to teach them to describe them in accurate language. 

"1. The teacher to perform some action, — such as placing the 
palm of the right hand on that of the left ; and, without requiring 
the children to describe the act, call upon them to imitate it ; or 
placing the right hand on the left shoulder ; the left hand on the 
right shoulder ; extending the right arm, and bending the wrist ; 
holding up the extended right arm, while the left is held down- 
ward ; folding the arms, etc., requiring the children to imitate 
each action exactly. 

" 2. The teacher may then describe an action, in place of perform- 
ing it, requiring the children to carry it out : Put the right hand 
on the right shoulder, the left hand on the left shoulder ; put one 
arm behind, the other across the chest, extend the left arm, and 
bend the wrist, etc., etc. 

" 3. The teacher to perform the action, and the children to de- 
scribe it : for example, the teacher may touch the upper eyelid of 
the right eye Avith the forefinger of the left hand ; or touch the in- 
ner corner of the left eye with the thumb of the left hand ; or fold 
the arms ; or hold up both arms extended, etc., the children de- 
scribing each successive action : if in doing this they express them- 
selves inaccurately, the teacher should correct them." — Manual of 
Elemenfary Instruction. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 49 

Miscellaneous Topics. 

Animals. — See § 22. 

Morals and Manners, — See § 7. 

§ 31. Miscellaneous Topics. — Meaning and use of 
the terms har^d^ soft^ dozen^ score, right, left. Time 
by clock or watch. ]Rame ten articles of table fur- 
niture; six articles made of glass; eight different 
kinds of fruit ; four things that please the teacher ; 
four things that disjDlease the teacher, etc. The 
teacher will vary and expand these exercises at 
pleasure. 

Yerses and Maxims. — See § 23. 

Oral Instruction. — See §§ 8 and 18. 

§ 32. Reading and Spelling. — ^The following meth- 
od will be found highly useful in securing the atten- 
tion of Primer classes, and giving to each pupil the 
benefit of reading the whole lesson, or such portion 
of it as may be desired : Let one scholar read the 
first sentence ; then let the class follow, reading the 
same in concert, and pointing to all the words as 
they read. Let the next scholar read the second 
sentence, and the class follow in concert as before, 
and so on. 

The practice of mental reading should also be 
frequently introduced ; all the members of the class 
pointing carefully to the words of a paragraph or 
lesson, as they are read by the teacher. If these 
exercises are properly conducted, they will advance 



References. — § 31. Fireside Philosophy; Graded Course of 
Instruction, by Home and Colonial School Society ; Calkins's 
Object Lessons. 

5 



50 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Ninth Grade. 

a class naucli faster than the method of hearing each 
pupil read a sentence in turn, without the concert 
practice in oral and mental reading. 

The pupils should be able to point out and explain 
the title-page^ table of contents^ leaves, pages^ 7nargi7is, 
frontispiece, and the headings or the titles of the les- 
sons. They should also be able to spell all these 
words before leaving the 9th grade. 

Let them be taught to hold a book in a proper 
manner, in the left hand, with the thumb and little 
finger on the pages in front, and three fingers on the 
cover behind. 

In preparing an exercise in spelling, it is highly 
important that young pupils should hear the words 
pronounced by the teacher. A very useful method 
is, for the teacher first to pronounce all the words of 
the lesson distinctly, while the pupils listen atten- 
tively and point to the words in the books, as they 
are pronounced, i^ext, the teacher pronounces one 
word, which is repeated by the first scholar in the 
class ; then another word, which is repeated by the 
second scholar, and so on. After this, if time per- 
mits, the teacher and class may pronounce in con- 
cert, and then the class pronounce in concert with- 
out the teacher. 

All the spelling lessons should be neatly printed 
by the pupils on their slates, and the classes should 
be required to read the words from their slates in 
connection with the spelling exercises. See, also, 
§§ 1, 2, 26, and 27. 

Numhers. — See § 28. 



FOR GRADKD SCHOOLS. 51 



Drawing, Printing, etc 



§ 33. Drawing^ Printing^ etc. — The teachers of the 
several Primary grades should assign definite lessons 
in drawing, printing, etc., to be prepared by all the 
pupils, with the same regularity and care as any 
other exercise.* The teacher should spend at least 
ten minutes each day in assisting the pupils and 
giving such directions as they may need. When 
the exercises are completed, they should in all cases 
be examined by the teacher. Lessons of special ex- 
cellence should receive marks of credit, and failures 
resulting from carelessness or indifference, should 
receive marks of error. 



See, also, §§ 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 15. 



EIGHTH GRADE. 

[PKIMAEY DEPAETMEN.T.] 

REGULAR COURSE. 

Oral Instruction. — Parts ; size ; general qualities ; - color ; ani- 
mals ; plants ; trades and professions ; morals and manners ; mis- 
cellaneous topics. Two or more oral exercises a day, each from five 
to twelve minutes long. 

Verses and Maxims. See § 23. 

First half of First Reader read and reviewed, with punctuation, 
definitions, and illustrations. Short daily drill in enunciating the 



References.— % 33. Welch's Object Lessons; Calkins's Object 
Lessons; Barnard's Object Teaching; Philbrick's Primary 
School Tablets ; Manual of Elementary Instruction. 

* " The spreading recognition of drawing as an element of educa- 
tion, is one among the many signs of the more rational views on 
mental culture now beginning to prevail." — Herbert Spencer. 



52 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



Eisfhth Grade. 



vowels and consonants, and their combinations.* Spelling the 
columns of words, and words selected from the reading lessons, 
both by letters and by sounds. 

Drawing and Printing. — Two or more exercises a day with slate 
and pencil, or paper and pencil, using blackboard sketches prepared 
by the teacher when practicable, drawing-cards when they can be 
obtained, pictures and various figures from books and cards, etc. 
Printing lessons in spelling and arithmetic. See § 33. 

Addition table completed; thoroughly and constantly illustrated 
and applied. Extemporaneous exercises in adding series of num- 
bers. See § 5. Beading and writing Roman numerals to one hun- 
dred, forward and backward in course ; also irregularly. 

Physical exercises, from two to five minutes at a time, not less 
than five times a day. See § 105. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Oral' Instruction. — See §§ 8 and 18. 

Farts.— See § 29. 

§ 34. Sise. — Let the children receive their first 
ideas of a foot, a yard, an inch, etc., by the actual 
measurement of these different lengths in their pres- 
ence. Place lines of known lengths on the black- 
board as standards of comparison. Let the pupils 
estimate the length of the room, the hight of one 
of their own number, the width of the street, etc., 
and then test their different estimates by measuring 
the objects. Now let the pnpils draw lines of speci- 



References. — § 34. Oalkins's Object Lessons; Welch's Ob- 
ject Lessons; Barnard's Object Teaching; Manual of Element- 
ary Instruction, vol. 1 ; Mayo's Lessons on Objects. 



* See Watson's National Phonetic Tablets, Philbrick's Primary 
School Tablets, Sanders's Elocutionary Chart, and Page's Normal 
Chart of Elementary Sounds. 



FOK GKADKI) KCHOOLS. 53 

Size ; General Qualities. 

fied lengths on their slates or on the blackboard, as 
a foot, half a yard, two inches, etc. ; after which 
their lines should be subjected to the test of meas- 
urement. The same measures may next be applied 
to width, and illustrate as before.'"* 

§ 35. General Qualities. — After completing the 
special exercises on each of the qualities oifonn^ 
color, etc., a large number of lessons should be de- 
voted to the general qualities of objects, including 
those that have already been taken up separately. 



§ 35. Barnard's Object Teaching, particularly art. 12, by 
James Currie, of Edinburgh ; Welch's Object Lessons ; Calkins's 
Object Lessons ; Mayo's Lessons on Objects ; Manual of Ele- 
mentary Instruction. 

* The following is a report of one of the exercises before an Edu- 
cational Convention recently held at Oswego, N. Y., to examine 
into a system of Primary Instruction by Object Lessons : 

*' Ages of children, live to seven. 

"The children were requested to hold their forefingers one inch 
apart while the teacher measured the space between them. 

"Then the children were required to draw lines on the black- 
board an inch in length, and others to measure them, stating 
whether too long, too short, or correct. 

" Next they were required to tear papers an inch in length ; then 
to tear them two inches in length ; then to fold them three inches 
in length, and so on, the teacher measuring them meanwhile. At 
least two out of each three tore and folded their papers of the ex- 
act length named. 

"Then the children were requested to draw lines on the black- 
board one foot in length ; then to divide them into twelve inches. 

"They readily measured inches, and feet, and yards, both with 
the rule and with the eye, and drew lines representing them, show- 
ing that they understood the relations of these to each other as well 
as the length of each," 

6* 



54: COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Eighth Grade. 

Tims, the following qualities will be discovered in 
a q^uill. It is long^ lights ^iW-) '^'^^efiil^ natural^ inan- 
imate^ animal production. The barrel is transparent^ 
or semi-transparent., hard., elastic, hright^ light-color- 
ed or yellowish., cylindrical, hollow. The shaft is 
feathered, lohite, stiff or limher, opaque, solid, 
grooved. Let each of these qnalities be illustrated 
by comparing it with a similar quality in some 
other object, and let the meaning of each term be 
clearly fixed in the mind by an actual examination 
of the object in which it exists. The principal 
topics introduced and the names of qualities should 
be written very plainly on the blackboard, to aid in 
impressing the lesson on the minds of the pupils. 
Before closing the exercise, let the pupils be called 
on to explain the meaning of the terms used, in their 
own words, and to construct short sentences or 
phrases embracing them. 

This is the best class of lessons that can be given 
to aid the pupils in enlarging their vocabulary of 
useful words ; and the teacher should be careful to 
select such subjects as will introduce one or more 
new words at each exercise."^ 

§ 36. Color. — More extended exercises in discrim- 



References. — § 36. See the references of § 20. 

* If properly conducted, these lessons will be found the most 
efficient means of improving the children's powers of observation, 
discrimination, and description, and of increasing their stock of use- 
ful information. They will also do much to prevent the confusion 
and misunderstanding of terms which we so often witness in ordi- 
nary conversation.— /&€ 3Iarcel on Language 



FOR gradp:d schools. 55 



Animals ; Trades, etc. 



inating the sliades and tints of color. Primary and 
second ar}^ colors. 

§ 37. Animals. — ^These lessons should be grad- 
ually extended to include animals less common and 
familiar, as the squirrel, the fox, the deer, the owl ; 
with a few foreign animals, as the lion, the camel, 
the ostrich. As far as practicable, the lessons should 
be illustrated by pictures in books and on the black- 
board, to be copied by the pupils. 

Let the characteristics of different animals be 
pointed out ; as, the fidelity and sagacity of the dog, 
the docility of the horse, the intelligence of the ele- 
phant, and the cunning of the fox. Let examples be 
selected from each of the different classes of animals, 
for object lessons. Attention should frequently be 
directed to the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, 
as shown in adapting the form, covering, etc., of the 
different animals to their peculiar modes of life, and 
the climate in which they are found. 

Plants.— See § 30. 

§ 38. Trades, Professions, etc. — Object lessons re- 
lating to different employments — the farmer, the 
blacksmith, the shoemaker, the carpenter, the teach- 
er, the lawyer, etc. ; including a particular descrip- 
tion of the tools used by the mechanic, farmer, etc., 
and illustrated, when practicable, by presenting the 
instruments themselves, and by drawings on the 
slate and blackboard. 



References. — § 37. See the references of § 23. 

§ 88. Hazen's Trades and Professions, in Harpers' Family Lib. 



56 COURSE OF IKSTUUCTION 

Eighth Grade. 

Morals and Manners. — See § T. 

§ 39. Misoellaneous Topics. — Relative position of 
objects, as the direction of a pupil from the teacher, 
or from another pupil, or from the door. Let the 
children name the city they live in ; the county ; the 
State ; the country ; capital of the State ; of the 
country ; mayor of the city ; governor of the State ; 
President of the United States, etc. Day of the 
week ; of the month. Short table, embracing the 
common divisions of time. Estimate by pupils of 
the length of a minute, of five minutes, fifteen min- 
utes, etc., without the aid of a clock or watch ; sub- 
mitted to the test at the close of the trial. Five 
duties to parents ; five to brothers and sisters ; five 
to companions at school ; six difi'erent modes of con- 
veyance ; six things made of wood ; six made of 
leather ; six streets, with their relative location ; six 
difi'erent kinds of food, etc. Meaning and use of 
terms natural^ artificial; animal^ vegetable^ min- 
eral; metal; simple^ compound; native^ foreign ; 
indigenous^ exotic ; century^ etc. 

Beading.— ^QQ §§ 1, 26, 27, and 32. 

§ 40. Spelling. — Let the children spell their owti 
names ; the name of the city or town ; State ; days 
of the week ; months of the year. These exercises 
should be repeated till the pupils are able to perform 
them well. See, also, § 2. 

§41. Analysis of Sounds. — "Articulation should 
be taught and practiced by a thorough analysis of 



References. — § 39. Barnard's Object Teaching, art, 9. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 5'7 

Analysis of Sounds. 

tlie elementary sounds of the language, and their 
separate and powerful execution by the organs of 
speech ; then, sentences and short passages that re- 
quire unusual command of the articulate powers 
may be made the subject of diligent practice.""^' It 
will also be found a highly useful exercise to give 
tlie elementary sounds occasionally, in a clear and 
forcible whisper. The analysis of sounds relates 
chiefly to reading, and should, therefore, be studied 
and practiced more in connection with the lessons in 
reading than with those in spelling.f 

* Zachos's Analytic Elocution, 

■f " After all the elements and their combinations have been made 
so familiar by practice as to be readily recognized, proceed to an- 
alyze, and then to spell the words in the following exercises, in this 
manner : 1. Pronounce deliberately and firmly. 

"2. Divide the word into its syllables, speaking each one sepa- 
rately, and as fully as if it were a word by itself. 

"3. Articulate, in proper order, every element separately and 
very fully. 

"4. Enunciate every syllable as it is completed, preserving the 
distinctness of its elements. 

"5. Pronounce the word Avith due proportion of force and time 
on each syllable, taking cave that the elements, as before articula- 
ted, be distinctly preserved in the pronunciation. 

"The mode of spelling here proposed is the only proper way of 
assisting a child that is learning to talk. It can not reasonably be 
expected that a distinct and organically correct articulation can be 
acquired by the common custom of learning merely to pronounce 
words. There can be no doubt that nearly all the stammering, blun- 
dering, and indistinct articulation which we so continually hear, 
while few are conscious of it in themselves, have come very natu- 
rally, if not of mere necessity, from the folly of those who expect 
or allow children to execute words without mastering the simplest 
elements of which they are composed." — Hillard's Third Class Reader. 



68 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Seventh Grade. 

Drawing. — See § 33. 

§ 42. Numhers. — Counting to 100 by twos, using 
the even numbers, 2, 4, 6, etc. ; also using the odd 
numbers, 1, 3, 5, etc. ; forward and backward. 

See, also, §§ 4, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 



SEVENTH GEADE. 

[PKIMAET DEPARTMENT.] 

EEGULAE CODESE. 

Oral Instruction. — Form ; size ; general qualities ; weight ; color ; 
animals ; the five senses ; corpmon things ; miscellaneous topics ; 
morals and manners. Two or more oral exercises a day, each from 
seven to fifteen minutes long. 

Last half of First Header completed and reviewed, with punctua- 
tion, and definitions and illustrations. Short daily drill in enunci- 
ating the vowels and consonants, and their combinations.* 

Spelling, both by letters and by sounds, from Speller, and from 
reading lessons. 

Drawing and Printing. — Two or more lessons a day ; same as in 
eighth grade. 

Subtraction table completed, and multiplication table to 5x10 or 
5X12, constantly illustrated by use of beans, etc., and applied. Ex- 
temporaneous exercises in adding and subtracting series of numbers. 
See § 5. Reading and writing Arabic and Roman numerals to five 
hundred, forward and backward in course ; also out of course. 

Physical exercises, from two to five minutes at a time, not less 
than four times a day. See § 105. 



References, — § 42. Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 12 ; Cal- 
kins's Object Lessons; Davies' Grammar of Arithmetic. 

* See Philbrick's Primary School Tablets, Page's Normal Chart of 
Elementary Sounds, Sanders's Elocutionary Chart, and Watson's 
National Phonetic Tablets. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 69 

Form ; Size. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Oral Instruction. — See §§ 8 and 18. 

§ 43. Form. — Lessons on tlie various relations and 
conditions of lines^ as horizontal, vertical, perpendic- 
ular, obliqne, parallel, diverging, converging, curved, 
waving, spiral, etc. ; on angles — right, acute, obtuse ; 
on the different kinds of triangles '^ and on parallel- 
ograms^ quadrangles, the square, rectangle, rhombus, 
oblong, rhomboid, trapezoid, trapezium • use of the 
term diagonal. 

Copious slate and blackboard exercises, illustra- 
ting all the above lines and figures. 

§ 44. Size. — It is now time to introduce measures 
of surfaces and solids. Actual measures, as the gill, 
the quart, the gallon, the peck, should be brought 
to the school-room and used in illustrating these les- 
sons, till the children become familiar Avith them. 
Let the pupils estimate the measure of a cup, bowl, 
bottle, pail, basket, etc., and then correct their errors 
by measuring. Similar exercises should be intro- 
duced in relation to surfaces. First, place a square 
inch, foot, yard, etc., on the board, as standards of 
comparison. Next, illustrate the division of a square 
yard or foot into square inches, etc. Let the pupils 
estimate the number of square yards, feet, inches, 
etc., in various objects, as the floor, the teacher's 



References. — § 43. Calkins's Object Lessons ; Barnard's Ob- 
ject Teaching", arts. 9 and 12 ; Hill's First Lessons in Geometry. 

§ 44. Calkins's Object Lessons ; Barnard's Object Teacliing, 
arts. 9 and 12. 



60 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Seventh Grade. 

desk, a slate, blackboard, window, etc. Test their 
accuracy by calling on them to measure the ob- 
jects. Accompany with copious slate and black- 
board exercises. 

General qualities. — See § 35. 

§ 45. Weight. — First call the attention of the pu- 
pils to the attraction of the earth, as shown in fall- 
ing bodies, the tendency of water to run down hill, 
the effort required to lift a heavy body, etc. Give 
them different articles of the same size, but made of 
different substances, as cork, v/ood, iron, lead, a vial 
of water and a vial of quicksilver, a bag of shot 
and a bag of beans. Let them handle and compare 
them. Distinguish bodies heavier than water from 
those which are lighter, by actual experiment. I^ow 
introduce various standard weights. Let the pupils 
handle a pound of lead, a pound of wood, a pound 
of cotton ; a body weighing 5 lbs., 10 lbs., 20 lbs., 
etc. ]^ext let them handle a variety of bodies, and 
estimate the weight of each ; after which their judg- 
ment should be tested by the scales.* In this way 
they will cultivate accuracy of judgment in respect 
to the weight of different objects presented, an at- 
tainment which very few persons ever make.f 

Color.— ^QQ % 36. 



References. — § 45. Science of Common Things, index ; Bar- 
nard's Object Teaching, art. 9 ; Welch's Object Lessons. 

* A pair of scales, or some other instrument for weighing, can 
easily be obtained for this purpose, through some of the pupils, 
t See Young's School Teacher's Manual. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 61 

Five Senses ; Common Things. 

Animals. — See § 37. 

§ 46. The Five Senses. — General description of the 
eye, the ear, and other organs of sense. Exercises 
ilhistrating tlie cultivation and use of these organs. 
Let the children name ten things discovered by the 
eye ; five discovered by the ear ; five by touch, etc. 
Name difi'erent qualities, etc., and let the children 
tell the sense by which they are discovered. 

§ 47. Common Things. — Object lessons on a clock, 
watch, nail, carriage, pin, needle, rope, pitch, tar, etc. 

§ 48. Miscellaneous Tojpics. — ]^ame six public 
buildings in the city or town; six difi'erent kinds 
of carriages ; ten difi'erent foreign fruits ; six birds of 
prey ; six difi'erent kinds of stores. 

The names of the young of difi'erent animals. 
The fiesh of difi'erent animals used for food, — what 
called? The voice or natural call of difi'erent ani- 
mals. The largest fish, quadruped, bird, insect, 
reptile. A collection of men, birds, cattle, fishes, 
insects, — what called ? 

Meaning and use of the terms density .^ attraction 
of gravitation^ quadruped., hiped^ insect^ reptile. 

§ 49. Sentence-onahing^ etc. — At the close of every 
object lesson, let each pupil make up one or more 



References. — § 46. Child's Book of IsTature, part 2 ; Calkins's 
Object Lessons ; Mayo's Lessons on Objects ; Mayhew's Popu- 
lar Education, chap. 6. 

§ 47. Fireside Philosophy, index ; Mayo's Lessons on Objects, 
passim; Brande's Cyclopaedia, words Horology, Pin. 

§ 48, Hooker's Natural History, chap. 13. 

§ 49. Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 12. 



62 course: of instkuction 

Seventh Grade. 

sentences embodying certain points of the lesson, or 
containing new words that have been learned. The 
pupils may ordinarily be called on to repeat these 
sentences in course, extemporaneously ; but they 
should occasionally be required to print or write 
them with care on their slate, for the inspection of 
the teacher. Exercises specially meritorious should 
receive marks of credit ; and defective exercises 
should receive marks of error. 

Reading.— ^QQ §§ 1, 26, 27, and 41. 

§ 50. — Analysis of Soimds. — Besides the ordi- 
nary exercises in analyzing, by uttei^ing the different 
sounds, pupils should frequently be called on to an- 
alyze by describing the sounds. Other explanations 
respecting the forms of words, uses of letters, etc., 
may be given at the same time. 

Examples. — Fate : sound of/", atonic ; first sound 
of a; sound of ^, atonic; e silent. Garnish: hard 
sound of ^, subtonic; second sound of a; sound of 
r, subtonic ; sound of 7i^ subtonic ; second sound of 
i; sound of sh^ atonic. — How many sounds has gf 
What are they ? Give a word containing the soft 
sound of g ; one containing the first sound of a. 
How many syllables in garnish? Which syllable 
is accented ? What is accent ? Which of the letters 
in garnish are vowels ? Which consonants ? What 
letter or letters represent the last sound in garnish f 
Can you name any other elementary sound that is 
represented by two letters united ? 



Reference. — § 50. Wright's Analytical Orthography. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 63 

Spelling ; Numbers. 

The description and utterance of the sounds should 
generally be united in the same exercise ; first an- 
alyze by uttering the sounds ; then by describing 
them."^ 

§ 51. Spelling. — Spell and review the new terms 
introduced under " Miscellaneous Topics." Spell 
the names of all the objects that can be seen in the 
school-room. Let the scholars bring objects to the 
school to furnish names for spelling. Spell twenty 
or more names of visible objects not in the school- 
room ; twenty or more names of invisible objects; 
twenty or more words denoting motion. The more 
difficult of these words should be written on the 
blackboard, and reviewed several times. See, also, § 2. 

Drawing, — See § 33. 

* The following is a very complete form of analysis, copied from 
"Watson's National Phonetic Tablets : 

"Analysis. — 1st. The word salve, iyi pronunciation, is formed by 
the union of three oral elements : s §, v — salve. (Here let the pupil 
titter the three oral elements separately, and then pronounce the 
word.) The first is a modified breathing; hence, it is an atonic. 
The second is a pure tone ; hence, it is a tonic. The third is a modi- 
fied tone ; hence, it is a subtonic. 2d. The word salve, in writing, 
•is represented by five letters ; s a I v e — salve. S represents an 
atonic ; hence, it is a consonant. Its oral element is chiefly formed 
by the teeth ; hence, it is a dental. Its oral element is produced 
by the same organs and in a similar manner as that of z; hence, it 
is a cognate of z. A represents a tonic ; hence, it is a vowel. L is 
silent. F represents a subtonic ; hence, it is a consonant. Its oral 
element is chiefly formed by the lower lip and the upper teeth ; 
hence, it is a labia-dental. Its oral element is formed by the same 
organs and in a similar manner as that of/; hence, it is a cognate 
of/. E is silent. 

See, also, Holbrook's Normal Methods of Teaching. 



64: COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Sixth Grade. 

§ 52. Numhers. — Counting to 100 bj two's and by 
three's, forward and backward : 2, 4, 6, etc., 1, 3, 5, 
etc., 3, 6, 9, etc., 2, 5, 8, etc., 1, 4, 7, etc.* Adding 
single columns of figures on the slate and blackboard. 

See, also, §§ 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 



SIXTH GRADE. 
[primary department.] 

EEGULAK COUESE. 

Oral Instruction. — Form ; animals ; trees and plants ; foreign 
productions ; miscellaneous topics ; common things ; manners and 
morals. Two or more oral exercises a day, each from eight to 
fifteen minutes long. 

Beading and Spelling. — First half of Second Eeader completed 
and reviewed, with punctuation, definitions, and illustrations. 
Frequent exercises in enunciating the elementary sounds separately 
and in their principal combinations.! Spelling, both by letters and 
by sounds, with definitions, from speller, and from reading lessons. 

Drawing, writing, etc., with slate and pencil or paper and pencil, 
using drawing cards when obtainable, cuts from books, and other 
copies ; writing the large and small letters of the alphabet in plain 
script hand. 

References. — § 52. Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 12 ; Man- 
ual of Elementary Instruction ; Davies' Grammar of Arithmetic. 



'"• See a valuable article on Oral Lessons in Arithmetic, by Daniel 
Hough, of Cincinnati, in Ohio Educational Monthly for February, 
1862. Also Course of Studies for a True Graded School, in Eeport of 
Hon. J. M. Gregory, for 1861. 

f See Sanders's Elocutionary Chart ; Watson's National Phonetic 
Tablets ; and Phiibrick's Primary School Tablets. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 65 

Form ; Animals. 

Elementary arithmetic. Multiplication and division tables com- 
pleted, with constant illustrations and applications. Extempora- 
neous exercises in combining series of numbers. See § 5. Reading 
and writing Arabic and Roman numerals to 1,000. 

Abbreviations. 

Physical exercises, from two to five minutes at a time, not less 
than four times a day. See § 105. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Oral Instruction. — See §§ 8, 18, and 49. 

§ 53. Form. — Copious explanations and illustra- 
tions on the circle^ and on the terms connected with 
it, as diameter^ radius^ chord, segment, sector, tan- 
gent, semicircle, quadrant. Also, terms oval, el- 
lipse, parabola / pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octa- 
gon, nonagon, decagon, polygon; line of beautj. 
Measurement of angles. 

§ 54. Ani?nals. — Twenty or more lessons on the 
following topics, with pretty full descriptions and 
copious illustrations by engravings, and cuts, and 
slate and blackboard sketches. Division into class- 
es — beasts, birds, fishes, insects, reptiles; quadru- 
peds, bipeds; domestic, wild; useful; amphibious; 
poisonous ; beasts and birds of prey, etc., with illus- 
trative examples of each class. Instinct of animals, 
care of their young. Tools of aniinals, their cover- 



Eefereiices.—^ 53. See references of § 43. 

§ 54. Child's Book of Fature, part 2 ; Eeason Why, index ; 
Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 17; F. A. Allen's Primary 
Geography; Hooker's I^atural History; Willson's 4th and 5th 
Readers; Carll's Child's Book of IvTature ; Webster's and 
Worcester's Quarto Dictionaries; Hailman's Object Teaching; 
Chambers's Elements of Zoology. 



COURSE OF INSTKUCTION 



Sixth Grade. 



ing, food, habitations, motions. Plumage of birds, 
nest-bnilding, migratory Iiabits, etc. Contrasts and 
resemblances of different classes of animals. 

§ 55. Trees and Plants. — Similar lessons to those 
given in the 8th and 9th grades, but more extended. 
Compare the leaves of different plants and trees ; th3 
flowers ; the seeds ; the fruit. Compare flowers with 
leaves ; branches with roots. Specimens should be 
brought to the school, and the children should have 
exercises, in naming and distinguishing them. 

§ 56. Foreign Productions. — Object lessons on 
foreign productions in general use, including ginger, 
pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs, oranges, lemons, 
olives, dates, almonds, tamarinds, prunes, pineapples, 
tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, figs, bananas, raisins, 
sago, india-rubber, ivory, pearls, camphor, sponge, 
whalebone, gum arable. 

§ 57. MisGellaneoiis Topics. — Description and value 
of the different coins in common use, with exercises 
in distinguishing them. The names of thirty differ- 

RefGvence».—% 55. Child's Book of Nature, part 1 ; Fireside 
Philosoplij, index; Willson's 4tli and 5th Readers; Carll's 
Child's Book of Natural History; Manual of Elementary In- 
struction, vol. 2; Hailman's Object Teaching; Reason Why, 
index ; Brande's Oyclopasdia ; Alien's Primary Geography ; 
Webster's and Worcester's Quarto Dictionaries. 

§ 56. Pireside Philosophy, index ; Reason Why, index ; 
Calkins's Object Lessons ; Mayo's Lessons on Objects ; Barnard's 
Object Teaching, arts. 9 and 12. 

§ 57. Barnard's Object Teaching, arts. 9 and 12; Willsons 
Third Reader ; Brande's Cyclopgsdia, words Coinage^ Numu- 
matics, Money. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 67 

Comnioti Things ; Reading. 

ent kinds of vessels to contain liquids and solids, 
and the use of each. Object lessons on spring, sum- 
mer, autumn, winter. 

§ 58. Common Things. — Object lessons on com- 
mon articles, including leather, sugar, honey, glass, 
porcelain, starch, hemp, flax, cotton, wool, ink. 

Manners and Morals. — See § T. 

§ 59. Beading. — Pupils should now be required 
to devote a portion of each day to the preparation 
of their reading lessons. They will need the special 
assistance of the teacher in learning how to set them- 
selves at work, and the reading exercises should be 
conducted in such a manner, as to test the fidelity of 
the pupils in making the necessary preparation.* 
See, also, §§ 1, 26, and 27. 

Spelling. — See § 2. 



References. — § 58. Fireside Philosophy, index ; Reason Why, 
index; Majo's Lessons on Objects; IsTorton & Porter's First 
Book of Science, part 2. 

§ 59. Davies' Logic of Mathematics. 

* " It is in connection with the i-eading lessons that the peculiar 
work of the intermediate grade — the work of learning Jioio to get les- 
sons — begins. The first step will be to secure the careful attention 
of the pupils to the meaning of their lessons, by questioning them 
on the sense. This should be kept up from day to day, till the pu- 
pils acquire the habit of reading attentively, and become able to 
close their books immediately and give the substance, first of a 
single sentence, then of a paragraph, and finally of a page or an 
entire lesson. The inflections and emphasis should be carefully 
studied, to bring out the true sense of the lesson." — Course of 
Studies for a True Graded School, in Report of J. M. Gregory, Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction, Michigan. 



COURSE OF INSTKUCTION 



Sixth Grade. 



Drawing. — See § 33. 

§ 60. JSfunibers. — Counting by three's, four's, and 
five's, forward and backward. 

Special pains should be taken to explain and illus- 
trate the operation of multiplying one number by 
another, and of dividing one number by another; 
the relation of multiplication to addition, division to 
subtraction, multiplication to division, etc. Let the 
pupils also repeat these explanations and illustra- 
tions till the relations are thoroughly understood.^* 

§ 60^. Writing. — Pupils must be provided with 
long pencils, and hold them as they would hold a pen. 

See, also, §§ 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, M, 15, 16. 



References. — § 60. Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 12 ; Man- 
ual of Elementary Instruction, vol. 2. 

* * ' Age of children eight to nine years. 

" The design of the lesson was to show the relations between ad- 
dition, multiplication, and division. 

" The teacher wrote on the blackboard, and the children repeated 
the following : 

3+3=6, 6+3 = 9, 9+3=12, 12+3=15, etc., up to 99. 
"Then the teacher wrote 99—3=96, 96—3=93, and so on down 
to 6 — 3=3. 

Then 6+6=12, 12-f-6=2, 

6+6+6=18, 18-^6=3, 

6+6+6+6 = 24, 24-T-6=4, and so on. 

"The children read 6+6 = 12, two times 6 are 12, etc. 
7+7=14, 14-7-7=2, 

7+7+7=21, 21^-=3, 

7+7+7+7=28, 28-r-7=4, and so on to 100. 

"Children read 7+7 = 14, two times 7 are 14. 14 divided by 
7=2 7+7+7=21, three times 7 are 21. 21 divided by 7 = 3."— 
Report of Examination ; Oswego Primary Schools. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 69 

Kegular Course ; Form. 



FIFTH GEADE. 

[primary department.] 

EEGULAK COUESE. 

Oral Instruction. — Form ; color ; common things ; trees, plants, 
etc. ; animals ; shells ; geography ; miscellaneous topics ; morals 
and manners. Two or more oral exercises a day, each from ten to 
twenty minutes long. 

Heading and Spelling. — Last half of Second Reader completed 
and reviewed, with punctuation, definitions, and illustrations. 
Frequent exercises in enunciating the elementary sounds and their 
combinations, nsing charts and tablets of sounds, etc. Spelling 
both by letters and by sounds, with definitions from speller and 
from reading lessons. 

Primary Geography from text-book, gradually introduced in con- 
nection with Oral Geography. 

Sentence-making, written abstracts, etc. See §§ 6, 9, and 49. 

Drawing, writing, etc., with slate or lead pencil; writing with 
ink in script hand. 

Mental Arithmetic. — Multiplication table to 12X12, and Division 
table to 144-f-12, thoroughly reviewed, in course and out of course. 
Extemporaneous exercises in combining series of numbers. See § 5. 
Reading and writing Arabic and Roman numerals to 10,000. Slate 
and blackboard exercises in adding numbers — examples of three or 
four columns each. 

Abbreviations reviewed. 

Declamations and recitations. 

Physical exercises, from two to five minutes at a time, not less 
than four times a day. See § 105. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Oral Instruction. — See §§ 8, 18, and 49.^ 

§ 61. Form. — Brief lessons on the ^\^ regular 

* "The pupils, it should be remembered, are to observe and tell 
what they have observed, rather than to learn what the teacher 



70 COURSE OF INSTKUCTION 

Fifth Grade. 

solids — cube, tertraliedron, octahedron, dodecahe- 
dron, icosahedron ; and on. the pyramid, prism, 
parallelopiped, cylinder, cone, sphere, hemisphere, 
spheroid, etc. Terms, Sjpherical^ cylindrical, conical, 
spheroidal. 

§ G2. Color. — A few lessons in mixing colors. 
How to produce secondary colors. Harmony of 
colors."^ 

References. — § 61. Davies' Elementary Geometry and Trig- 
onometry, which contains full directions for making the five 
regular solids from pasteboard ; Welch's Object Lessons; Cal' 
kins's Object Lessons; Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 9; 
Brande's Oyclopasdia. 

knows. Knowledge lying much beyond their power of observation 
and discovery is of but little use to them yet." — J. M. Gregory. 

* The following is a report of one of the exercises before an Edu- 
cational Convention held at Oswego, N. Y., to examine into a sys- 
tem of Primary instruction by Object Lessons: 

♦' Children from nine to ten years of age. 

•'The children were led to distinguish primary, secondary, and 
tertiary colors from mixing colors. The teacher held up vials con- 
taining liquids of red, yellow, and blue. She then mixed some of 
each of the red and yellow liquids, and the children said the color 
produced by the mixture is orange. She then mixed yellow and blue, 
and the children said green had been produced. Then she mixed 
blue and red, and purple was the result. 

*' The teacher printed the result of each mixture on the black- 
board thus : 

First Colors or Primaries. Second Colors or Secojidaries. 

Red + Yellow = Orange. 

Blue + Yellow = Green. 

Blue + Bed = Purple. 

" Next she proceeded to show how the idea and term tertiary is 
derived from the secondaries by mixing the secondaries, and print- 
ing the result on the board, as before ; 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 71 



Common Thino^s ; Trees and Plants. 



§ 63. Common Things. — Object lessons on com- 
mon objects, including vinegar, alcohol, wine, yeast, 
bread, paper, glue, soap, putty, silk, linen, sperma- 
ceti, wax, indigo, butter, clieese. 

§ 64. Trees^ Plants^ etc. — Ten or more oral exer- 
cises. Qualities, structure, and office of roots, leaves, 
buds, stem, flowers, seeds, etc. Growth of the differ- 



References. — § 63. Fireside Philosophy, index ; Majo's Les- 
sons on Objects; Barnard's Object Teaching, arts. 5 and 9; 
Norton & Porter's First Book of Science, part 2 ; Brande's 
Cyclopedia. 

§ 64. Willson's Fifth Reader ; Child's Book of Nature, part 
1 ; Fireside Philosophy, index ; Reason Why, index : Worces- 
ter's and Webster's Quarto Dictionaries. 

Seco7idaries. Third Colors, or Tertiaries. 

Green -f Orange = Citrine. 
Orange -\- Purple = Rasset. 
Purple -f Green = Olive. 

"After the children had read over in concert what had been 
printed on the board, it was erased, and the pupils were required to 
state from memory what colors are produced by mixing primaries, 
with the name of each secondary ; also, what by mixing the sec- 
ondaries, and the name of each tertiary. 

An exercise on Harmony of Colors was then given to the same class 
of children. They were requested to select two colors that would 
look well together, and place them side by side ; then two were 
placed together that do not harmonize. During these exercises, the 
teacher printed on the board — 

Primary yelloio harmonizes wuth secondary purple. 
*' red " " " green. 

*' blue " '* " orange. 

' This was read by the pupils, then erased, and the individuals 
were called upon to state what color will harmonize with these sev- 
eral colors, as their names were respectively given." 



72 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Fifth Grade. 

ent parts. The teacher should bring as many speci- 
mens as practicable to the class, and encom-age the 
children to bring them also. Let the pupils examine 
several different kinds of wood, and exercise their 
skill in naming them. Some attention to the classi- 
fication of trees, plants, etc., in families — the oak 
family, the pod-bearing family, the rose family, the 
grasses, etc., with specimens and illustrations when 
practicable. The innumerable uses to which vege- 
table substances are applied, in food, medicine, 
clothing, building, etc., furnish an ample field for 
extending these exercises as far as time permits. 

ISTame 'Q.ye different evergreen trees ; ten fruit 
trees ; five ornamental trees ; five used for fuel, etc. 
Lessons on cork, mahogany, logwood, rosewood.* 

§ 65. Animals. — Transformations of certain in- 
sects. Animalculse. 

§ QQ. Shells. — Five or more lessons on shells, illus- 
trating some of the principal classes. 

§ of. Geography. — ^This branch should be intro- 
duced by familiar lessons on the geography of the 
city or town ; its rivers or small streams, direction 
in which they flow, their width and depth ; bridges ; 

References. — § 65. See references of § 54. 

§ 66. Hooker's I^atural History; Brande's OjclopsBdia, 
word ConcJiology ; Mayo's Lessons on Shells ; Worcester's and 
Webster's Quarto Dictionaries. 

§ 67. Primary Geography on the basis of the Object Method 
of Instrnction, byF. A. Allen; Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 
12 ; Calkins's Object Lessons. 

* See Hailman's System of Object Teaching. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 73 

Miscellaneous Topics ; Metals. 

location and direction of the principal streets, their 
width and length; public buildings, their location 
and use ; public and private schools ; manufactories ; 
boundaries ; date of settlement ; early history ; pres- 
ent population ; population twenty years ago ; town 
or city officers, etc. 

Let these exercises be illustrated by the use of an 
outline map of the city or town, drawn on the black- 
board. 

'Next, extend the exercise so as to embrace the 
county, and illustrate by map on the board as be- 
fore. Then extend to the State ; boundaries of the 
State ; rivers ; cities ; capital ; railroads ; canals ; 
length and width of the State ; surface ; soil ; cli- 
mate ; productions ; Governor ; Legislature ; popu- 
lation, etc. 

§ 68. Miscellaneous Topics. — Origin and meaning 
of the names of the months. Traveling by land ; by 
water. 

§ 69. Metals. — Which are the precious metals? 
Which the most useful of the metals ? Which are 
the heaviest ? Which is a fluid ? 

Object lessons on iron, zinc, tin, copper, lead, mer- 
cury, silver, gold ; on steel, wire, brass, pewter, etc. 

Terms ductile, malleable. 



References.— % 68. Fireside Philosophy, word Mont\ in in- 
dex ; Sargent's Third Reader, lesson 139. 

§ 69. Carll's Child's Book of Natural History ; Fireside Phi- 
losophy, index;' Mayo's Lessons on Objects; Oalkins's Object 
Lessons ; Norton & Porter's First Book of Science, part 2 ; 
Brande's Cyclopaedia. 

7 



74: COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Fifth Grade. 

Morals and 3fa7iners. — See § 7. 

Heading.— ^QQ §§ 1, 26, 27, 41, 50. 

§ 70. Spelling. — Spell the names of the different 
books of the Bible ; of the different studies pursued 
in school; of a hundred different articles, selected 
from the " Prices Current" of the newspapers ; of 
the principal streets of the city or town ; of the 
numerals, both ordinal and cardinal, from one to 
twenty. Dictation exercises. 

The spelling exercises of this grade should be 
mostly oral ; but the classes may occasionally be 
called on to spell by printing the words with a pen 
or pencil, on their slates or on paper. See, also, § 2, 

§ 71. ATitlimetic. — Pupils should receive special 
assistance from the teacher, in learning how to pre- 
pare their lessons in mental arithmetic. Counting 
by sixes, sevens, eights, nines, and tens, forward and 
backward : 1, 7, 13, etc., 2, 8, 14, etc., 3, 9, 15, etc. ; 



1,8 


, 16, etc., 2, 9, 


16, 


etc. 


,3, 


10, 


17, 


etc. 


; 1 


,9, 


17, 


etc. 


,2, 


10, 


18, 


etc. 


,3, 


11, 


19, 


etc. : 


; 1, 


10, 


19, 


etc. 


.2, 


11, 


20, 


etc. 


,3, 


12, 


21, 


etc. 


; 1: 


,11, 


21, 


etc. 


,2, 


12, 


22, 


etc. 


,3, 


13, 


23, 


etc. 





















Slate arithmetic should be gradually introduced, 
on the blackboard and on slates, preparatory to the 
use of a text-book in the next grade. Elementary 
exercises in notation, numeration, and addition. 

Adding columns of numbers ; short columns grad- 

Befe7'ences.—.^ ^0. Northend's Dictation Exercises; Parker & 
"Watson's Speller ; Worcester's Speller ; Sanders's Speller, etc. 

§ 71. Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 12; Manual of Elemen- 
tary Instruction, vol. 2. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 75 

Arithmetic ; Drawing. 

uall J extended to long ones ; slowly at first, but more 
and more rapidly as the pnpils acquire facility in the 
operations. Dictate columns of twenty or more fig- 
ures ; then let all the pupils commence at the same 
moment and note the time required by each to com- 
plete the addition. All the pupils should learn to 
add by giving the sum at each step, without naming 
the number to be added : thus, in adding the num- 
bers 5, 8, 6, 9, etc., say 5, 13, 19, 28, etc., and not 5 
and 8 are 13, and 6 are 19, and 9 are 28, etc. 

§ YlJ. Drawing. — The study and application of 
the principles of drawing should be gradually ex- 
tended till the pupils are able to produce represen- 
tations of objects with facility and accuracy. Let 
the classes use cuts from books, drawing-cards, when 
obtainable, and otlier copies. They should also have 
frequent exercises in sketching directly from the ob- 
jects represented."^ See, also, § 33. 

Writing. — See § 3. 

See, also, §§ 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, U, 15, 16, 49. 



* "This beautiful art should certainly be placed among the neces- 
saries of education, to be begun early, and imparted to all. There 
is no one who has not, on some occasion, found that it would have 
Deen extremely serviceable to him to have been able to draw his 
ideas, as well as to speak or to write them ; a slight sketch will 
often show in a moment, and with great precision, what many words 
would fail to make clear ; and a very little time in early youth de- 
voted to lessons in drawing, including mechanical as well as other 
branches of drawing, would impart to every one a power which, in 
after life, could not fail to be useful in a variety of ways ; that is, 
real practical lessons in drawing, carried out on the principles of 
the art — not mere copying, nor getting the master to patch up for 



76 COURSP) OF INSTRUCTION 

Fourth Grade. 

FOUKTH GEADE. 

[grammae department.] 

EEGULAE COURSE. 

Oral Instruction. — Sound ; light ; water ; meteorology ; miscel- 
laneous topics ; geography ; morals and manners. The time de- 
voted to oral instruction each week to be equal in amount to fifteen 
minutes a day. 

Geography from text-book. 

Construction of sentences, etc. 

First half of Third Eeader (or corresponding number of the series), 
with punctuation, definitions, and illustrations, and spelling by 
sounds. 

Written and oral spelling, with definitions from speller and from 
reading lessons. 

Drawing. 

Writing. 

Mental arithmetic continued. Slate arithmetic to long division, 
and reviewed. Extemporaneous exercises in combining series of 
numbers. See § 5. 

Declamations and recitations. 

Physical exercises, from two to four minutes at a time, not less 
than three times a day. See § 105. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Oral Instruction. — See §§ 8 and 18.* 
§ 72. Sound. — How produced-. Illustrate by 
stretched cord, or some other vibrating body. Ac- 

the pupil something presentable at home, but real training to the 
power of making good representations of a variety of objects on a 
flat surface." — Reid' & Frindples of Education. 

* '■^Lessons on objects are most valuable ; especially lessons on the 
various familiar objects around us, when the learner is required to 
notice, or himself to suggest, every thing that can be remarked 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 77 



Sound ; Light. 



tion on the ear. High and low sounds — how pro- 
duced. Kelation of the air to sound. Yelocity of 
sound. The human voice. Varieties of the human 
voice. I^ame twenty difierent kinds of sounds. 
Eclioes ; whispering gallery ; ear-trumpet. Musical 
instruments ; bells. 

§ 73. Light. — Luminous bodies. Yelocity of light. 
Difference between the light of the sun and that of 
the moon. Laws of reflection ; mirrors. Eefrac- 
tion ; experiment with piece of money in a bowl of 
water. Action of the microscope and telescope. 
Solar spectrum ; rainbow. Structure and action of 
the eye. Danger of injuring the eyes from exces- 
sive use; from imprudent exposure to light; from 



Eeferences. — § 72. Science of Common Things, index ; Rea- 
son Why, index ; Calkins's Object Lessons ; Barnard's Object 
Teaching, arts. 4 and 9 ; Norton & Porter's First Book of 
Science, part 1 ; Brande's Cyclopajdia. 

§ 73. Child's Book of Nature, parts 2 and 3 ; Fireside Phi- 
losophy ; Science of Common Things, index ; Reason Why, in- 
dex; Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 4; Calkins's Object Les- 
sons ; Norton & Porter's First Book of Science, part 1 ; Beech- 
ers's Physiology and Calisthenics ; Brande's Cyclopaedia. 

about them. Such lessons should be begun early, but not stopped 
soon, as is too often the case. It is a mistake to suppose that they 
are useful only to young children ; they should be continued, of 
course with more detail and with greater exactness, and with a 
greater variety of objects, up to a late period. Nor should they be 
confined to the pupil suggesting the qualities with the object before 
him ; he should be made to describe it again minutely, from recol- 
lection, and then write down an account of its qualities." — Reid's 
Principles of Education. 

7* 



rs 



COUKSE OF INSTRUCTION 



Fourth Grade. 



reading in twilight; from reading fine print. Dan- 
ger of allowing yonng children to look steadily at a 
light. Average distance at which a book should be 
held from the eje; effect of holding a book too near 
the eje. How cats and other animals see in the 
night. Cause of color. Twilight. 

Terms, iridescent^ spectrum^ solar. 

§ 74. Water. — Four or more lessons on the com- 
mon properties and uses of water. Hard and soft 
water ; water of the ocean, etc. 

§ 75. Meteorology. — Six or more oral lessons on 
winds, clouds, fogs, dew, frost, moisture settling on 
a vessel of cold water in a warm room, rain, snow, 
hail, ice. 

§ 76. Miscellaneous Topics. Oral lessons on print- 
ing, parchment, Julian calendar, copyright, patents, 
jail of the county, prison or prisons of the State. 

§ 77. GeograpJiy. — After the introductory exer- 
cises of the previous grade, introduce a map of the 
United States, showing the situation and relative 
size of the State in which the pupils reside ; the 
principal rivers of the country, mountains, ca]3ital, 
largest cities, etc. Divisions of the United States ; 



References. — § 74. Science of Oommon Things, index ; Eeason 
Why, index ; Brande's Oyclopsedia ; Calkins's Object Lessons. 

§ 75, Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 2; Child's Book of 
Mature, part 3 ; Norton &; Porter's First Book of Science, part 
2 ; Science of Common Things, index ; Fireside Philosophy, 
word Winds; Eeason Why, index ; Hailman's Object Teaching; 
Brande's CyclopsBdia. 

§ 76. Brande's OyclopaBdia. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 79 



Geography. 



compare the climate of the ITorthern and Southern 
States ; prmcipal j^roductions of each division ; com- 
merce ; compare productions with those of other 
countries ; President, etc. 

The use of the globe should be introduced in this 
connection, showing the rotundity of the earth, rota- 
tion on its axis, day and night, poles, equator, par- 
allels of latitude, meridians of longitude, tropics, 
polar circles, zones, points of the compass at any 
given place, the continents, oceans, and relative po- 
sition of places, situation of the United States, and 
of the State and city or town in which the pupils 
live ; relative size of each. 

Similar illustration should be constantly given 
with the globe in connection with the recitations from 
the text-book, and no definition should be ]3assed by 
till the teacher has satisfactory evidence that the 
pupils understand clearly the object described. 

Lessons in geography should be accompanied by 
brief historical sketches of important events con- 
nected with the different countries, and by some 
allusions to ancient geography, and the changes 
through which the countries have passed in their 
governments, boundaries, etc. 

One of the most common faults in teaching geog- 
raphy is the practice of requiring pupils to learn the 
names of a large number of unimportant places, the 
exact population of unimportant cities, etc.* It is 



* "Great improvements have been made, especially of late, in 
teaching geography. Higher views of the whole subject have been 



80 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Fourth Grade. 

not desirable that pupils should be required to " give 
the names of thirteen towns on the Tocantins river," 
nor even the number of square miles in every State 
of the Union. They may be able to learn these 
tilings so as to recite them, but they will not be 
likely to remember them ; nor is the knowledge thus 
gained an equivalent for the labor required, even if 
it could be retained. 

Construction of Sentences. — See §§ 6, 9, and 49, 

Beading. — See §§ 1, 41, and 50. 

§ 78. Analysis of Soimds. — The pupils of the 
Grammar divisions should have frequent exercises 
in spelling by sounds any words that may be select- 
ed from their reading lessons ; and pupils that are 
not able to analyze the sounds of words promis- 
cuously chosen, should receive special attention un- 
til this standard is attained. 

§ 79. Sjpelling. — Spell one hundred words selected 
from the advertising columns of the newspapers. 
Five or more dictation exercises, in writing entire 
advertisements selected from newspapers. Fifty or 
more words selected from the lessons in geography. 

The spelling exercises of this grade may be about 



References. — § 79. N'ortkend's Dicta,tion Exercises. 

taken, great general principles have been substituted for innumera- 
ble useless details ; the value of map drawing, already acknowl- 
edged, has been still more effectively insisted upon ; the intimate 
connection between geography and history has been pointed out, 
and, in other ways, a new and stronger interest has been excited." 
— George B. Emerson. See, also, Fifteenth Annual Eeport of Secre- 
tary of Massachusetts Board of Education, by Dr. Sears, p. 65. 



P^OR GRADED SCHOOLS. 81 

Spelling ; Drawing. 

half oral and half written. Buit spelling exercises 
should be conducted chiefly in {writing, as soon as 
pupils are sufficiently expert with a pen to write 
legibly, in the usual time for a recitation, ten or 
fifteen of the more difficult words in the lesson.* 
As the pupils become more ready in the use of the 
pen, the number of words may be increased. Oral 
exercises in sj^elling should not be entirely dispensed 
with in any of the grades. 

"Written exercises in spelling should in all cases 
be regarded as lessons in penmanship as well as in 
orthography, and examples of carelessness in writing 
should be charged as errors. 

In the 1st, 2d, and 3d grades, written exercises in 
spelling should be put in suitable blank books, and 
preserved for the inspection of the School Directors, 
and others. Every Avord misspelled should after- 
ward be rewritten correctly by the pupil, in his 
manuscript speller. See, also, § 2. 

§ 80. Draioing. — Special attention should be given 
in this grade to the principles of drawing, prepara- 
tory to map drawing. Pupils should also have les- 
sons in drawing various mathematical lines and 

* " Spelling by writing, when the pupil can write, appears to have 
great advantage over spelling orally. In the business of life, we 
have no occasion to spell orally, and thousands of cases have made 
it certain, that the same person may be a good speller with the 
lips, who is an indifferent one with the pen." — Mann. 

"The orthography of a language should be taught by writing; 
an opinion, we believe, that is now pretty well established, but not 
sufficiently put into ^xs^ciiCQ."— London Quarterly Journal of Educa- 



82 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Fourth Grade. 

figures, architectural figures, etc., and in copying 
pictures from books and other sources.* See, also, 
§§ 33 and TIJ. 

Writing.— See § 3. 

§ 81. Ai'ithmetic. — Teachers should be careful to 
secure a thorough acquaintance with the principles 
of notation and numeration. As soon as pupils are 
able to add figures together, the teacher should dic- 
tate several numbers to them orally, requiring them 
to place units under units, tens under tens, etc., and 
add them together. Examples of this class should 
be made more and more difficult, as the pupils are 
able to write them, embracing from five to ten 
numbers each, some of them extending to trillions 
or quadrillions, and containing more ciphers than 
significant figures, so that the pupils will frequently 
be left to fill whole periods and parts of periods with 
ciphers. These exercises will furnish a valuable re- 
view of addition, and a still more valuable review of 
notation and numeration. 

Rapid exercises in adding long columns of num- 
bers. See S 71. 



References. — § 81. ISTorthend's Teachers' Assistant, letter 17; 
Holbrook's Normal Methods ; Davies' Logic of Mathematics. 

* " Linear Drawing, which supplies the deficiencies of descriptive 
language, is another acquirement indispensable to the instructor. 
It may be made a most useful instrument of teaching, even in the 
humblest school. In the exact, the natural, and the experimental 
sciences, especially, he who has a command of this art is never at a 
loss how to render the most intricate details clear, intelligible, and 
interesting to his auditory." — 3Iarcel on Laiiguage. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 83 

Arithmetic. 

Recitations in arithmetic require constant watch- 
fulness on the part of the teacher, to secure fullness 
and accuracy of expression. The following are illus- 
trations of common faults : 

1. "If one cord of wood cost $5, six cords will 
cost 5 times 6," instead of " 6 times $5." 

2. " If one cord of wood cost $5, six will cost 6 
times 5," instead of " six cords will cost 6 times $5." 
[Two errors.] 

3. " In -y- of a dollar, there are as many dollars as 
9 is contained in 36," instead of " as many dollars as 
the number of times 9 is contained in 36," or " as 
many dollars as 9 is contained times in 36." 

4. " To subtract one fraction from another, reduce 
the fractions to a common denominator and subtract 
the numerators," or " subtract one numerator from 
the other," instead of " subtract the numerator of the 
subtrahend from the numerator of the minuend." 

See, also, §§ 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 



THIRD GRADE. 

[geammak department.] 

REGULAR COURSE. 

Oral Instruction. — Historical sketches ; air and water ; electricity 
and magnetism 5 minerals ; morals and manners ; familiar exer- 
cises in grammar, embracing the parts of speech and construction 
of sentences. The time devoted to oral instruction each week, to 
be equal in amount to fifteen minutes a day. 

Geography, through United States, with map drawing. 



84 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Third Grade. 

Grrammar to the verb, with lessons in the use of language— to 
follow oral exercises in grammar. 

Third Reader (or corresponding number of the series) completed, 
and first third of Fourth Reader, with punctuation, definitions and 
illustrations, and elementary sounds. 

Written and oral spelling, with definitions, from speller and from 
reading lessons. 

Writing. 

Mental arithmetic continued, with thorough reviews. Slate 
arithmetic to addition of denominate numbers, and reviewed. 
Rapid exercises in adding columns of figures. Extemporaneous 
exercises in combining series of numbers. See § 5. 

Declamations and recitations. 

Physical exercises from two to four minutes at a time, not less 
than three times a day. See § 105. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Oral Instruction. — See §§ 8 and 18. 

§ 82. History. — Brief sketches of prominent char- 
acters and events in history, both ancient and mod- 
ern : Babylon, its walls and hanging gardens; Pyr- 
amids of Egypt, Trojan War, Homer, Founding 
of Eome, Alexander, Demosthenes, Yirgil, Julius 
C^sar, Mohammed, the Crusaders, Columbus, Wash- 
ington, Franklin, ]^apoleon, etc. 

§ 83. Air and Water. — Component element of air; 
of water. Proportion of oxygen and nitrogen in the 
air. Relation of oxygen to life; to combustion; 
most abundant of all known substances. Properties 
of nitrogen ; of hydrogen, weight of hydrogen. 

§ 84. Electricity and Magnetism. — Illustrate the 



References. — § 82. Mansfield's American Education. 
§ 83. JSTorton & Porter's First Book of Science, part 2 ; Sci- 
ence of Common Things, index ; Reason Why, index. 



FOU GRADED SCHOOLS. 85 

Minerals ; Geography. 

production of electricity, and properties of attraction 
and repulsion, by a piece of dry paper rubbed brisk- 
ly with a piece of india-rubber. Conductors and 
non-conductors, lightning and lightning conductors, 
Franklin's kite. 

Properties of the magnet. Magnetic needle, mari- 
ner's compass, horseshoe magnet, telegraph. 

§ 85. Minerals. — Oral exercises on the following 
topics, with illustrations as far as specimens can be 
obtained : 

Common quartz, quartz crystal, common lime- 
stone, marble, coral, gypsum, soapstone, anthracite 
coal, bituminous coal, slate, clay, loam, gravel, etc., 
together with various stones used for ornament, as 
agate, topaz, carnelian, amethyst, emerald, and some 
of the compound rocks, as granite, sandstone ; kinds 
of stone employed in buildings, sidewalks, etc. ; 
bricks, quicklime, mortar. 

§ 86. Geograj}hy. — "In the progress of every snc- 
cessive lesson, the teacher should call in the aid of 
association, by naming the products and staple com- 
modities of the several States, historical facts, re- 
markable curiosities, high mountains, manufactories, 



References. — § 84. Child's Book of Nature, part 8 ; !N'orton 
& Porter's First Book of Science, part 1 ; Science of Common 
Things, index; Eeason Why, index; Barnard's Object Teach- 
ing, art. 4; Brande's Cyclopsedia. 

§ 85. Fireside Philosophy, index; Mayo's Lessons on Ob- 
jects ; Brande's Cyclopasdia ; Webster's and Worcester's Quarto 
Dictionaries. 

§ 86. ¥orthend's Teacher's Assistant, letter 16. 



86 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Third Grade. 

etc., occasionally naming each separately. Say — 
this is a lumber State, this a wheat State, cotton 
State, sugar, tobacco, rice, etc. Plere is gold ; there 
lead, iron, coal, etc. Then pointing, review inter- 
rogatively — what State? its capital, rivers, moun- 
tains? What productions here? What in this? 
This," etc.^ 

§ 87. Map Drawing. — The first steps in map 
drawing should consist of a series of exercises simi- 
lar to the following :f 

(1.) At a given signal let every member of the 
class draw on the blackboard or slate a continuous 
straight line, of any length, and in any direction ; 
a second ; a third ; a fourth ; a fifth. In the same 
manner, let five dotted lines be drawn. At succes- 
sive signals, let all the pupils place ten points on the 
slate or blackboard, without any reference to each 
other. 1^0 w let all the pupils draw a straight line 
between any two of these points. This exercise 
should be continued, at successive signals, till all 
the points are connected. 

(2.) The second exercise consists in making the 



Reference. — § 87. Oalkins's Object Lessons. 

* S. W. Seton. 

f The directions for map drawing here given, have been kindly- 
furnished by Messrs. Willard Woodard, Principal of the Jones 
School, Chicago, and E. C. Delano, Teacher of the Normal Depart- 
ment of the Chicago High School. Though brief, they are suffi- 
ciently full and explicit to enable teachers to introduce a system- 
atic course of instruction in this important art, — an improvement 
greatly needed in nearly all the schools of the country. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 87 

Map Drawing:. 

pnpils familiar with the smaller units of length, 
which may be done by the use of the common foot 
measure. Let the class, at a given signal, draw 
lines one foot in length, and teacher and pupils test 
the accuracy of the work by applying the standard. 
After successful trials, represent combinations of the 
standard in lines of two and three feet. !Now let 
the pupils apj)ly these units to space and objects in 
the room. 

Again, let the pupils draw lines one foot in 
length, and divide each line into two equal parts ; 
each of these parts into two other equal parts ; con- 
tinuing the division till the line has been divided 
into inches. Having a clear idea of the above units, 
assume points at the distance of an inch, a foot, two 
feet, and a yard, and let them be connected first by 
continuous lines, and afterward by dotted lines. 

(3.) Let the pupils draw straight lines, of given 
lengths, in difi'erent directions, as vertical, horizon- 
tal, and oblique. These terms may be illustrated by 
reference to the walls and floor of the school-room. 

(4.) The class should be required to combine 
straight lines in the formation of triangles — right, 
acute, and obtuse angled, — quadrilaterals and other 
rectilinear figures. After the first figure is drawn, 
other similar figures may be inscribed or circum- 
scribed at given distances. 

(5.) Draw curves and parallel curves of difi'erent 
degrees of curvature, and at difi'erent distances. 

(6.) Around a given point, as a center, at a dis- 
tance of one inch, let a circumference be drawn. 



88 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Third Grade. 

Around the same center, at the distance of two 
inches, a second circumference; at the distance of 
three inches, a third. In this manner let successive 
circumferences be drawn until the distance from the 
center to the last is twelve inches. The exercise 
may be varied by increasing or diminishing the dis- 
tances. 

(7.) Let the above exercise be reversed. 

(8.) The division of straight lines into equal parts 
by the aj^plication of a given scale, which should be 
represented on the board by each pupil. 

(9.) The representation of the axes, poles, paral- 
lels, meridians, and zones of spheres of different 
diameters. 

(10.) Representation of familiar surfaces, with ob- 
jects on them, as the school-room, play-grounds, and 
fields. 

(11.) Representation of mountains. 

(12.) Representation of rivers. 

(13.) Representation of coast lines. 

All the foregoing exercises should be repeated till 
a high degree of accuracy and rapidity is secured. 
It is important that the first nine exercises should 
be performed simultaneously by all the members of 
the class. 

Select a county or State having regular outlines. 
Select a scale with some convenient unit of measure. 
After determining the position of the cardinal points, 
draw two dotted lines at right angles to each other, 
one representing the central meridian, the other the 
central parallel. Apply the scale to the meridian as 



FOR GKADED SCHOOLS. 89 

Map Drawing. 

many times as the distance represented by it is con- 
tained in the distance between the north and south 
points of the country to be drawn. Through the 
points of division, draw dotted lines at right angles 
to the meridian, which will represent parallels of 
latitude. Apply, in like manner, to the central 
parallel, such part of the scale as a degree of longi- 
tude is of a degree of latitude. Through the points 
of division draw dotted lines at right angles to the 
parallel. These will represent meridians. Desig- 
nate the parallels and meridians by numbers ex- 
pressing the position of points or places through 
which they pass, learned from an atlas. 

The frame of the map being complete, represent 
by a dot the prominent points of the boundary, the 
latitude and longitude of which have been previous- 
ly learned. Having fixed in the mind the nature 
and direction of the bounding line, it should be 
drawn wholly from memory. The boundary com- 
pleted, the most prominent natural features should 
be represented. 

The pupil now has before him a map of his own 
construction, in which he can not fail to be interest- 
ed. See, also, § 80. 

§ 88. In illustration of the foregoing principles 
we will proceed to draw a map of Europe, the most 
irregular and difficult of all the Grand Divisions. 

The pupils having been thoroughly drilled in the 
application of latitude and longitude, and the rela- 
tive length of a degree of longitude in different lati- 
tudes, the following prominent points in the bounda- 

8» 



90 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Third Grade. 

ries of Europe should be written by the teacher on 
the blackboard and copied by the pupils into a 
blank book for preservation, to be committed to 
memory in lessons of five or ten each, according to 
the ability of the class. Commencing at 

Lat. Lon. 

ISTorthCape 71° K, 26° E. 

TheJSTaze ...... 58 " 7 " 

Tornea 66 " 24: " 

St. Petersburg .... 60 " 30 " 

Lubeck . 54: " 11 " 

Mouth of the Elbe ... 54 " 9 " 

Brest 48 " 4i " 

Bayonne. ...... 43 " IJ " 

Ortegal 44 " 8 " 

Straits of Gibraltar ... 36 " 5 " 

Genoa 444" 9 " 

Cape Spartivento . ... 38 '' 16 " 

Venice . 45 " 12 " 

Cape Matapan 36 " 22 " 

Constantinople .... 41 " 29 " 

Sevastopol 44 " 33 " 

Intersection of Caucasus 

Mts. and Caspian Sea . . 40 " 50 

ISTortheast point of UralMts. 67 " 60 

Mouth of Ural Kiver . . 47 " 52 " 

Mouth of Yolga River . . 46 . " 48 " 

The above points are deemed sufficiently accurate 
for practical purposes, not differing from the true 
position more than one half of a degree. 



" 50 " 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 91 

Map Drawing. 

Teachers will increase or diminish tlie number of 
points at their discretion ; but care should be taken 
not to burden the memory with more numbers than 
are really necessary to secure accuracy in the form 
of the map. Some teachers would have more points 
fixed in the map of Europe than the number here 
given. Yery few maps require more than half as 
many of these points as the map of Europe. 

Suppose the first lesson to be a map of the coast 
line from Cape ^ortli to St. Petersburg. The points 
essential to this exercise are Cape E^orth, The Naze, 
Tornea, and St. Petersburg. 

The latitude and longitude of these points having 
been learned, recitation may be required in the fol- 
loAving manner : 

Cape ISTorth is situated 21° K, 26° E. The gen- 
eral direction of the coast line is southwesterly to 
The I^aze at the south point of ITorway, with many 
small indentations ; thence northeasterly to Chris- 
tiana, coast line regular; thence southeasterly to the 
most southern point of Sweden, very regular. The 
position of the remaining points and the regularity 
and direction of the coast line should be learned and 
recited in a similar manner. 

The class is now prepared to draw. First each 
pupil draws upon the board a vertical line called the 
scale, representing 5° or 10° of latitude, according 
to the size of the map. A dotted vertical line should 
now be drawn representing the central meridian in 
Europe, the 20th degree. Supposing our scale to 
represent 5° of latitude, the most southerly point 



92 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Third Grade. 

being about 35°, the most northerly 70°, the differ- 
ence will contain seven spaces of 5° each ; hence 
there will be eight parallels. Now divide the me- 
ridian into seven equal parts, each equal in length 
to the scale assumed, and draw dotted curved lines 
through the points of division, representing parallels 
of latitude. 'Next draw the meridians. On the par- 
allel of the TOth degree, a degree of longitude is 
nearly one-third of a degree of latitude. The most 
easterly point being in longitude 60°, and the most 
westerly nearly 10° W., there will be eight spaces 
and eight meridians east of the meridian of 20°, and 
two spaces and two meridians west of it. 

l^ow set off on the parallel of 70°, eight spaces 
equal to one-third of the scale, east of the meridian 
of 20°, and two on the west. A degree of longitude 
on the parallel of 35° is | of a degree of latitude, 
nearly. ]N"ow proceed to lay off the same number 
of spaces as before, each being -f of the scale, and 
connect the parallels of 70° and 35° with straight or 
curved dotted lines. 

The frame being completed, let the points learned 
and described be located with dots and connected 
with lines, in conformity with the description pre- 
viously given. After the class has acquired the 
ability to represent with accuracy and rapidity the 
first lesson, another section of the boundary, to- 
gether with that previously drawn, should be as- 
signed for the next lesson. Let successive sections 
be assigned until the outline is completed. The 
teacher can not overestimate the value of rapid exe- 



FOK GRADED SCHOOLS. 93 

Grammar and Composition. 

cution in map drawing, which is attainable only by 
frequent reviews. 

The mode of representing lakes, rivers, mountains, 
and prominent towns, will be readily suggested to 
the teacher. 

§ 89. Grammar and Com.][)Osition. — One of the 
most common faults in teaching grammar, is that of 
requiring pupils to commit too many rules and ob- 
servations to memory. The most important princi- 
ples only should be learned and recited directly from 
the text-book, and always in connection with illus- 
trative examples furnished by the pupils. The 
less important principles, embracing more than half 
of the remarks, observations, etc., of the different 
school-grammars, should be learned chiefly as they 
are called into use by the grammatical study of se- 
lected passages of prose and verse. 

As fast as the principles of grammar are learned, 
let the pupils be required in all cases to embody 
them in sentences of their own construction. The 
ability to use language correctly, and the demon- 
stration of this ability by actual performance, should 
ever be regarded as the only satisfactory test of the 
pupil's attainments in this branch. " The art of 
speaking and writing correctly," is something more 
than " the art of knowing how to speak and write 
correctly." The knowledge of pupils is generally 
found to be far in advance of their practice. It is 



References. — 89. Mansfield's American Education, chap. 11 ; 
Page's Theory and Practice, chap. 7. 



94 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Third Grade. 

true that most teachers give some attention to the 
language employed by their puj)ils, especially during 
recitations ; but it would be a very great improve- 
ment if still more time was spent in cultivating 
habits of freedom and accuracy in the use of lan- 
guage. If one-fourth of the time usually devoted to 
the regular recitation in grammar was distributed 
through the day, and employed in cultivating the 
art of conversation, and propj'iety and elegance of 
expression on all occasions, the loss would prove a 
great gain.^ 

The rule adopted by Dr. Johnson deserves a place 
in the memory of every pupil. " Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds once asked him by what means he had attained 
his extraordinary accuracy and flow of language. 
He told him, that he had early laid it down as a 
fixed rule to do his best on every occasion and in 
every company ; to impart whatever he knew in the 
most forcible language he could put it in ; and that 
by constant practice, and never suffering any careless 

* " Unless the principles of the science are applied in daily prac- 
tice, and fixed in the mind by habitual exercise, comparatively little 
is gained from theoretical study of the formulas and parts of speech. 
The ability to think clearly, and express one's thoughts elegantly 
and perspicuously, in one's own spoken or written words, is a great 
acquisition, and a rare one in our grammar schools." — Report of 
School Committee, Lowell, Mass. 

" The deficiency alluded to is in the lack of appliances in our 
school studies and exercises for the proper cultivation of the faculty 
of expression." — Isaac J. Allen, Superintendent of Schools, Cincinnati. 

" No teaching of grammatical rules will counteract the injuiious 
effect of the frequent hearing and use of ungrammatical language." 
— Report of Boston Committee. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 95 

Reading. 

expressions to escape liim, or attempting to deliver 
his thonglits without arranging them in the clearest 
manner, it became habitual to him."- 

Tlie oral lessons of the course should in all cases 
be regarded as exercises for the cultivation of the 
conversational power's of the pupils, and thej should 
always be conducted with special reference to the 
accomplishment of this object.f 

§ 90. Reading. — The standard of excellence in 
reading should be set a little higher in each succes- 
sive grade. Pupils of the third grade should be able 
to read w4th good expression and effect in every va- 
riety and style. Take care that all the voices, espe- 
cially those of the girls, are kept up to the proper 



Eeferences. — § 90. Korthend's Teacher and Parent, chap. 28 ; 
Page's Theory and Practice, chap. 4; Bates's Institute Lectures, 
lect. 4 ; Holbrook's Normal Methods ; Zachos's Analytic Elo- 
cution. 

* Boswell's Life of Johnson. 

f " Oral lessons cultivate in young people the talent of rational 
conversation, which, in ordinary education, is entirely left to chance, 
although it is the most useful, the most social, and the most intel- 
lectual of all talents. They impart that free excursive acquaintance 
with various learning which makes the pleasing and instructive 
companion ; and if they were generally adopted, they would not 
fail, in the course of time, to raise the tone of conversation in so- 
ciety. The powers of language of the learners being constantly 
called forth in proposing and answering questions, in stating the 
results of their observations, and in making verbal or written sum- 
maries of the subjects on which they have conversed, they will ne- 
cessarily acquire great facility of expression in connection with great 
clearness of thought. And if they excel in conversation, they have 
every prospect of success in public speaking."— J/flrceZ on Language. 



96 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Second Grade. 

degree of loudness and force. Low voices should 
always be regarded as great defects in reading; and, 
except in cases of ill liealth, pupils who fail to make 
themselves plainly heard in every part of an ordinary 
school-room should receive marks of error. If pupils 
are inspired with a suitable degree of ambition to 
give the proper expression to the pieces they read, 
there will generally be very little difficulty in regard 
to fullness of voice. 

§ 91. Spelling. — Spell one hundred or more words 
selected from the geography of the United States. 
Dictation exercises. 

Write six or more exercises of entire paragraphs, 
selected from the " Review of the Market," in one of 
the daily papers, including all the figures, abbrevia- 
tions, etc. See, also, §§ 2 and 79. 

Writing. — See § 3. 

Arithmetic, — See §§ 71 and 81. 

See, also, §§ 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 



SECOISTD GRADE. 

[grammar department.] 

EEGULAE COUESE. 

Oral Instruction. — Properties of matter ; laws of motion, etc. ; 
physiology and hygiene ; morals and manners. The time devoted 
to oral instruction each week, to be equal in amount to fifteen min- 
utes a day. 

Englisli grammar. 

Reference. — § 91. Northend's Dictation Exercises. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 97 

Properties of Matter, etc. 

Compositions, abstracts, and written reviews. 

Geograpliy, to Asia, and reviewed, with map-drawing from mem- 
ory. See §§ 87 and 88. 

History of the United States, to the Revolution, and reviewed. 

Fourth Reader (or corresponding number of the series) completed, 
with punctuation, definitions and illustrations, and elementary 
sounds. 

Written and oral spelling, v/itli definitions, from speller, and 
from reading lessons. 

Writing. 

Mental arithmetic completed and reviewed. Slate arithmetic 
through vulgar and decimal fractions, and reviewed. Extempo- 
raneous exercises in combining series of numbers. See § 5. 

Declamations and recitations. 

Physical exercises, from two to four minutes at a time, not less 
than twice a day. See § 105. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Oral Instruction. — See §§ 8 and 18. 

§ 92. Pi'oj^erties of Matter^ Laws of Motion, etc. — 
In presenting tlie following topics, explain and apply 
the principles, and introduce illustrations when prac- 
ticable : General properties of matter — extension, 
impenetrability, etc. Solids, liquids, gases. Inertia, 
different kinds of attraction, specific gravit}^, center 
of gravity, centripetal and centrifugal forces, flying, 
swimming, rowing, water-wheels, the action of pow- 
der in firing a gun, mechanical powers, the pendu- 
lum, air — its common properties and uses, pressure of 
the air, balloons and soap-bubbles, sailing a boat. 



References.— % 92. Korton & Porter's First Book of Science, 
part 1 ; Child's Book of Nature, part 3 ; Fireside Philosophy, 
index ; Science of Common Things, index ; Reason Why, index ; 
Barnard's Object Teaching, arts. 2 and 4; Brande's Cyclopaedia. 



98 COURSE OF INSTErCTION 

Second Grade. 

flying a kite, suction-pump, siphon, barometer, fric- 
tion. 

§ 93. Physiology and Hygiene^ etc. — Let the ex- 
pansion and application of the following topics be 
continued and reviewed, till the pupils are able to 
sustain a satisfactory examination upon all of them : 
The blood, mastication, the teeth, saliva, digestion, 
chyme, chyle, nutrition, blood-vessels, structure and 
office of the heart, circulation of the blood through 
the system, impurities, waste of the system, how re- 
paired, proper and improper food, eating too much, 
too fast, too often, late in the evening, irregularity 
of meals, dyspepsy, alcoholic drinks. 

Structure and office of the lungs, respiration, capa- 
city of the lungs, exercises for their healthy develop- 
ment, obstructed action, dangerous habit of bending 
over desks, process of purifying the blood, different 
colors ; carbonic acid of the breath, how formed, 
amount, composition of carbonic acid, weight, rela- 
tion to life, experiment of lighted candle in air that 
has been held in the lungs a few seconds, carbonic 
acid in wells, burning charcoal in close room, car- 
bonic acid in the stomach, soda fountains, raising 
bread ; ventilation. 

Brief account of the bones, joints, muscles. 

The hand. Men and animals compared. 



References.— % 93. Child's Book of Fature, part 2 ; Beeclier's 
Physiology and Calisthenics, passim; Eoot's School Amuse- 
ments ; Science of Common Things, index ; Fireside Philoso- 
phy, index; Keason Why, index; Calkins's Object Lessons; 
Barnard's Object Teaching, art. 4 ; Brande's Cyclopaedia. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 99 

Physiology ; Topics. 

Structure and office of the skin, sensible and in- 
sensible perspiration, imj)ortance of frequent bath- 
ing, danger from exposure to currents of air applied 
to the school-room.* 

The brain, excessive use of; nerves of sensation, of 
motion. 

Physical exercise, its relation to health, kind and 
amount required. 

Clothing, kind and quantity required to preserve 
health ; importance of frequent change ; danger 
from cold or damp feet. 

Sleep, nature and uses, amount required, effect of 
sleeping too much, too little ; rising early, late ; re- 
tiring early, late ; ventilation of sleeping-rooms. 

Recreation and amusement — relation to health. 
Importance of change and variety of mental labor.f 

§ 94. Reciting hy Topics. — One of the best modes 
of reciting history, geography, etc., is by the use of 
topics. Thus, in geography, a pupil passes to an 
outline map, drawn on the blackboard, with a set of 
topics in his hand, as boundaries, rivers, mountains, 
climate, surface, soil, productions, commerce, etc., 
and proceeds to describe the country assigned, stat- 
ing all he recollects under each topic. When his 
description is completed, other members of the class 
are called on for corrections and additions, and the 
teacher makes such suggestions as the case may re- 

* "Avoid a current of air as you would an arrow." — Chineif, 
Proverb. 

f "The mind is as mucli refreshed by variety as by idleness." — 
Todd's Student's Manned. 



3 00 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

First Grade. 

quire. This made of reciting by topics leaves the 
pupils in a great degree to their own resources, se- 
cures a more thorough and systematic preparation 
of the lessons, and furnishes important aid in im- 
parting that discipline of mind which is more valu- 
able than knowledge. It will be found particularly 
adapted to reviews. 

Beading.— ^QQ §§ 1, 41, 50, Y8. 

§ 95. SpelUncj. — Spell one hundred words selected 
from the geography of South America and Europe ; 
thirty words selected from the terms and definitions 
used in arithmetic ; thirty from the lessons and defi- 
nitions used in grammar. See, also, §§ 2 and 79. 

Write five dictation exercises of paragraj)hs select- 
ed from the " Marine Journal" of a newspaper. 

Writing,— ^QQ % 30. 

Arithmetic. — See § 81. 

See, also, §§ 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 89. 



TIKST GEADE. 

[aUAMMAR DEPARTMENT.] 
REGULAR COURSE. 

Oral Exercises. — Popular astronomy ; elementary book-keeping ; 
government ; heat ; geology ; morals and manners. The time de- 
voted to oral instruction each week to be equal in amount to fifteen, 
minutes a day. 

Grammar completed, with parsing and analysis from reading- 
book. 

Reference. — § 95. l^orthend's Dictation Exercises. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. IQI 

Popular Astronomy. 

Compositions, abstracts, and written reviews. 

Geography completed and reviewed, with map-drawing from 
memory, and use of terrestrial globe. See §§ 87 and 88. 

History of the United States, completed and reviewed. Outlines 
of English history, with review. 

Fifth Keader (or conesponding number of the series), with expla- 
nations, analysis of derivative and compound words, and elementary 
sounds. 

Written exercises in spelling from reading lessons, and other 
words selected by the teacher. Analysis of derivative and com- 
pound words, and a few selected rules of spelling.* 

Writing. 

Slate arithmetic completed and reviewed. Extemporaneous exer- 
cises in combining series of numbers. See § 5. Difficult examples 
in mental arithmetic reviewed. See § 81. 

Declamations and recitations. 

Physical exercises, from two to four minutes at a time, not less 
than twice a day. See § 105. 

DIEECTIONS. 

Oi'al InHtruction. — See §§ 8 and 18. 

§ 96. Popular Astronomy, — Ten or more elemen- 
tary lessons. The earth — its size and motions. 
Change of seasons — how caused ; difference in the 
length of days and nights at different seasons of 
the year ; length of the longest day at the equator ; 

References. — § 96. JsTorton & Porter's First Book of Science, 
part 1 ; Child's Book of ligature, part 3 ; Fireside Philosophy, 
index ; Brande's Cjclopjedia ; BrownelFs How to Use Globes. 

■~" "The rules for spelling derivatives are not very commonly 
learned in our schools, or if memorized they are not comprehended 
and practically applied. Certainly a large share of the bad spelling 
which I have witnessed is chargeable to a neglect of these rules." — 
B. G. Northrop, Agent of Massachusetts Board of Education. 

9* 



102 COURSE OF INSTKrCTION 

First Grade. 

tropics ; polar circles ; at the poles. Tides. Solar 
System. The sun — its office, distance, magnitude, 
spots. The moon — its size, distance, telescopic ap- 
pearance, different phases; eclipse of the moon; 
of the sun. Name the planets in their order; rela- 
tive size; satellites of each, and ring of Saturn. 
Morning and evening stars. Comets. Fixed stars. 
Teach the pupils to point out in a clear night five or 
more conspicuous constellations ; five or more stars 
of the first or second magnitude ; all the larger 
planets that are above the horizon. 

§ 97. Elementary Exercises in Book-Tceeping. — A 
dozen simple exercises in single-entry book-keeping, 
illustrated by the teacher on the blackboard, and 
written out by the pupils, will be sufficient to enable 
them to keep ordinary accounts with a good degree 
of facility and accuracy ; and pupils should never 
be allowed to pass through the Grammar divisions 
and leave school, without this knowledge. 

§ 98. Government. — Seven or more elementary 
lessons on government, embracing the general struc- 
ture of National, State, city, and town governments, 
and their relation to each other; government of 
United States, compared with that of Great Britain, 
Russia, Switzerland. Legislative, executive, and 



References. — § 97. Introduction to Mayhew's Book-keeping. 

§ 98. Mansfield's PoUtical Manual ; Howe's Young Citizen's 
Catechism; Shurtliffs Governmental Instructor; Sheppard's 
Constitutional Text-book; Young's Science of Government; 
Brande's Cyclopaedia, words Jury^ Homicide, etc. ; Webster's 
and Worcester's Quarto Dictionaries. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 103 

Government ; Heat. 

judicial branches of government ; origin of our 'Nsl- 
tional government; Declaration of Independence; 
Constitution; trial by jury. Terms homicide, man- 
slaug liter, felony, arson, burglary, treason, jper jury, 
forgery, etc. Names of tbe principal sovereigns of 
Europe. 

§ 99. Real. — In expanding the following topics, 
explain and apply the principles, and illustrate them 
as far as practicable. Sources of heat ; heating by 
conduction, radiation, convection. Sensation of heat 
and cold ; burning-glasses ; good and poor conduc- 
tors ; different kinds of clothing ; double windows ; 
ice-houses ; use of a fan ; protection of the ground 
by snow. Contraction and expansion ; putting tire 
on a wheel ; fire balloons ; thermometer ; glass 
cracked by hot water ; why clocks go faster in cold 
weather than in warm ; freezing water ; heat ab- 
sorbed by change from solid to liquid state, and 
from liquid to gaseous ; freezing mixture of salt and 
ice ; cooling a heated room by sprinkling water on 
the floor. Boiling water ; how the force of steam is 
produced. Flame — how produced. Carbon. Flame 
of a candle — why no combustion in the center; 
wick — why not consumed ; use of circular wick in 
astral and solar lamps ; use of glass chimney ; of 
small hole in top of lamp ; gas used in lighting 
buildings ; use of a blower in kindling a fire ; action 



References. — § 99. N'orton & Porter's First Book of Science, 
part 2 ; Science of Common Things, index ; Eeason Why, index ; 
Barnard's Object Teaching, arts. 2 and 4 ; Brande's Cyclopssdia. 



104 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

First Grade. 

of a common cliimney ; proper construction ; ad- 
vantages of stoves, as compared witli open fire- 
places ; disadvantages. 

§ 100. Geology.— rFiYQ or more oral lessons on the 
geological formation of the United States ; coal 
fields ; mineral ores ; geology of the State in which 
the pupils reside ; fossiliferous rocks. 

§101. Grammar and ^ise of Language. — At least 
half the time appropriated to Grammar in the first 
grade, should be spent in parsing and analyzing 
select pieces from Milton, Pope, and other authors, 
embracing several difi'erent varieties of style. The 
extracts required for this purpose may be selected 
from the reading-books. 

E'o exercise should be regarded as complete and 
satisfactory that does not analyze the thought as 
well as the language of the writer. 

Pupils of this grade should receive special in- 
structions in letter-writing, including the form and 
manner of beginning and ending, with the date; 
paragraphs ; dividing between syllables at the end 
of a line ; margin ; folding ; superscription ; sealing, 
etc. See, also, §§ 6 and 89. 

§ 102. Use of Glohe. — Pupils should receive so 
much instruction in the use of the terrestrial globe, 



References.--^ 100. Norton & Porter's First Book of Sci- 
ence, part 2 ; Willson's Fifth Eeacler ; Brande's Cyclopaedia ; 
Webster's and Worcester's Quarto Dictionaries; any of the 
Physical Geographies. 

§ 102. Mclntyre on the Use of the Globes ; Keith on the Use 
of the Globes ; Brownell's How to Use Globes. 



FOR GRADKD SCHOOLS. 105 

Spelling, etc. ; Music. 

that they will be able to solve hj it, before the 
class, not less than five common problems ; as, To 
find the length of a degree of longitude at any given 
latitude: To find the hours of sunrise and sunset, 
and the length of day and night at a given place on 
a given day : To find how long the sun shines with- 
out setting, at any given place in the north frigid 
zone, and how long it is invisible, etc. 

Reading. — See §§ 1, 41, 78. 

§ 103. Spelling and Analysis of Derivative Words. 
— Spell one hundred names selected from the geog- 
raj)hy of Asia and Africa ; the names of fifty islands 
and groups of islands, situated in any part of the 
world. Dictation exercises. Special attention to the 
analysis of derivative and compound words. See 
§§ 2 and Y9. 

Writing. — See § 3. 

Arithnetic. — See § 81. 

See, also, g§ 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 93. 



MUSIC. 



§ 104. It is highly important tnat all the divisions 
in the Grammar and Primary Departments should 
have one or more regular lessons in vocal music every 
week. Each division should also have daily exercises 
in singing both devotional and secular pieces. In 



References. — § 103. Il^orthend's Dictation Exercises; San- 
ders's Analysis of English AVords ; Town's Analysis of Deriva- 
tive Words ; McElligott's Analytical Manual. 



106 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Promotions ; Physical Exercises. 

the Primary divisions, singing should be interspersed 
among the other exercises several times a day. 



CONDITIONS OF TRANSFER FROM ONE GRADE TO 
ANOTHER. 

No pupils should le advanced from one grade to another^ till 
tJiey are able to sustain a thorough and satisfactory examina- 
tion^ ly the Principal^ on all the branches of the grade from, 
which they are to be transferred^ including the oral lessons, use 
ofslate^ etc. They should be able to read any of the pieces 
they haxie gone over^ with proper expression; explain the 
meaning of any of the words ; give the names and uses of the 
different marlcs used ; and spell any of the icords^ both by let- 
ters and by sounds. In the Grammar divisions, the examiria- 
tions should be both oral and loritten. When ptracticable, all 
promotions from one grade to another should be made at the 
commencement of a school month. 

Whenever the scholarship of a pupil falls behind the rank of 
his class, he should be sent into the class next below, unless by 
extra effort he is able promptly to regain his position. 



PHYSICAL EXERCISES.* 



§ 105. The following exercises embody the result 
of many careful experiments, and are believed to 
combine the elements of the most useful movements 
that are adapted to the school-room. The best ef- 



* Most of the " free gymnastics" here presented, have been kind- 
ly furnished by Messrs. S. H. White, Principal of the Brown School, 
Chicago, G. D. Broomell, Principal of the Dearborn School,, and E. 
C. Delano, Teacher of the Normal Department of the High School ; 
assisted by three of the lady teachers. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 107 

Ph5'sical Exercises, 

fects will generally be produced by executing them 
in order, from first to last ; but teachers can at any 
time make selections from them, at their discretion. 

The value of the exercises depends in a great de- 
gree upon the energy and force with which they are 
executed. In all the arm and shoulder movements, 
the muscles should be kept as rigid as possible, and 
the rapidity of the movements should not be so 
great as to prevent the utmost tension of the muscles. 
In all the body movements the motion should be full 
and slow. 

The directions assume that the regularity and 
mimber of motions in each movement are fixed by 
counting, either by the teacher alone, or by both 
teacher and class, as may be desired. The number 
to be counted in the body movements may be eight ; 
and in the others, when counted at all, twelve. In 
some cases, it may be thought desirable to duplicate 
the numbers. 

The following positions are recommended, pre- 
paratory to the execution of the movements : 

Position A, Sit erect, hands folded in front. 

" B, Turn to the aisle, preparatory to rising. 
" C, Else and face the teacher. 



References. — § 105. Eoot's School Amusements; Potter & 
Emerson's School and Schoolmaster, part 2 ; Calkins's Object 
Lessons; Beecher's Physiology and Calisthenics; Barnard's 
Object Teaching, art. 1 ; Fitzgerald's Exhibition Speaker and 
Gymnastic Book ; TralFs Family Gymnasium ; Walker's Manly 
Exercises; De Laspee's Free Gymnastics; Alfonce's Instruc- 
tions in Gymnastics ; Dio Lewis's New Gymnastics. 



108 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



Physical Exercises. 



Position D, Stand erect, with arms akimbo. 
" E, Pn23ils resume their seats. 

These positions may be used in dismissing school, 
when classes are called to recitation, and at all times 
when the scholars are called to rise from their seats. 

While on the floor, the scholars should stand 
erect, with the shoulders thrown back, and, unless 
otherwise directed, with the hands hanging natural- 
ly at the sides. 

NOTE. 

Cases will sometimes occur in which pupils are affected with in- 
firmities that render particular exercises injurious to them. Teach- 
ers should give watchful attention to this point, and never require 
pupils to join in any of the movements against the wishes of their 
parents. 

The windows should generally be raised from the bottom during 
the physical exercises, so as to furnish a supply of fresh air. All 
pupils in health are expected to join in these exercises ; but if, 
from ill health or other cause, any one is prevented from engaging 
in them, he should never be allowed to sit in a current of air. 

MOVEMENTS. 

(1 .) Inhale slowly and fill the lungs to their ut- 
most capacity; retain the air a few seconds, and 
then exhale slowly until the air is expelled as com- 
pletely as possible. Six inspirations and expira- 
tions. 

(2.) Place the clenched hands on the shoulders, 
the elbows being elevated sidewise to a horizontal 
line with them. At count one^ throw the fists forci- 
bly outward, so that the arms shall be in a horizon- 
tal position. At count tv30^ bring the fists back to 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 109 

Physical Exercises. 

the shoulders, keeping them closed iirmly during 
the whole movement. Count twelve. 

(3.) Hands hanging at the sides, closed. Count- 
ing 07ie^ pass the fists in front of the shoulders, and 
raise them so that the arms shall be vertical ; two^ 
bring the lists down immediately over the shoulders, 
at the same time throwing the elbows dowmward 
and backward ; thi^ee^ throw the fists downward, 
commencing with a short curve by bending the 
wrists and raising the elbows. Count twelve. 

(4.) Position D. At count one, incline the body 
to the right at an angle of 45°. At tioo, incline to 
the left in the same manner. Count eio^ht. 

(5.) Inflate the lungs suddenly with a full breath ; 
retain the breath a short time, and then emit as 
quickly as possible. Five times. 

(6.) Extend the arms forward a little above the 
horizontal, the fists being side by side, thumbs 
downward. At one, bring the fists immediately in 
front of the shoulders, turning the thumbs upward, 
and throwing the elbows downward and backward 
forcibly, as if to strike them together behind. At 
two, thrust the fists forward to the first position. 
Count twelve. 

(7.) Position D. At one, thrust the right fist up- 
ward to a vertical position ; at Uvo, bring the right 
hand to position D, and then thrust the left fist up- 
ward in the same manner. Count twelve. 

(8.) Hands hanging in front, clasped. At one, 
throw the hands to the right and as far behind as 
possible, at the same time turning the body in the 

10 



110 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Physical Exercises. 

same direction, but keeping the face and feet straight 
forward. At two^ turn to the left in the same man- 
ner. Count eight. 

(9.) Position D. Inhale a full breath slowly ; 
emit the breath audibly and slowly, giving the pro- 
longed sound of a vn father. 

(10.) Let the arms hang at the sides, hands open. 
At one^ throw the hands outw^ard and upward, keep- 
ing the arras extended, and bring the hands together 
directly over the head with a clap ; keeping the 
hands together and arms extended ; at two^ bring 
the hands down in front to a level with the shoul- 
ders ; at three^ throw the hands backward, keeping 
the arms extended horizontally ; at/bi^/', drop the 
arms to the sides as in position of starting. Count 
twelve. 

(11.) Position D. At one., rise on the toes as far 
as possible; at z5vj(?, ease back to starting position, 
being careful to avoid dropping noisily on the heels. 
Count twelve. 

(12.) Hands hanging at the sides, closed. At one.^ 
bring the fists up under the arms ; at two^ return 
them to first position. Count twelve. 

(13.) Hands hanging naturally at the sides. At 
one^ raise both shoulders as forcibly and as liigh 
as possible. At two^ lower them gentl3^ Count 
twelve. 

This exercise may be varied by raising and drop- 
ping first one shoulder six times and then the other 
six ; or by raising and dropping one shoulder once 
and then the other once, alternating to count twelve. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. Ill 

Physical Exercises. 

(14.) Position D. Thrust the right fist forward, 
horizontally, while counting one. At two^ bring the 
right hand back to position D, and then thrust the 
left fist forward in the same manner. Count twelve. 

(15.) Bring the fists together upon the chest, im- 
mediately between the shoulders, at the same time 
elevating the elbows above the horizontal, and bring- 
ing them as far forward as possible. At one^ throw 
the elbows downward and backward with force, and 
at two^ bring the fists and elbows as at first. Count 
twelve. 

(16.) Position D. At one^ turn the whole body, 
including the head, to the right as far as possible, 
keeping the feet stationary. At two^ twist the body 
toward the left in the same manner. Count eight. 

(17.) Place the fists upon the shoulders, with the 
elbows raised sidewise to a horizontal with them. 
Throw the right fist outward and upward at an 
angle of 45°, counting one. At two^ bring it back to 
its former position, at the same time throwing out 
the left in the same manner. Keep the muscles as 
rigid as possible. . Count twelve. 

(18.) Position D. At one^ look over the right 
shoulder, at the same time bending the body back- 
ward and twisting sidewise sufficient to allow a 
downward glance as at the heels. At two^ look 
over the left shoulder in the same manner. Count 
eight. This movement calls into exercise more of 
the muscles of the body than any of the others, and 
should be thoroughly executed. 

(19.) With the left hand upon the hip, whirl the 



112 COUKSE OF mSTRUCTION 

Physical Exercises. 

right hand and arm in as near a vertical plane as the 
situation of the scholar will allow, first forward, then 
backward. Then with the right hand npon the hip, 
whirl the left in the same manner. Let each arm be 
whirled six times in both directions, counting at 
each time. 

(20.) Place the fists upon the shoulders, with the 
elbows raised in front to a level with them. At one^ 
throw the fists suddenly forward, keeping the arms 
horizontal and opening the hands, j)alms upward. 
At two^ place the fists as before. Count twelve. 

(21.) Hold the right palm in front of the ejes, at 
the distance of about a foot from them, and the left 
palm similarly, opposite the lower part of the chest. 
At one^ change positions of the hands ; two^ reverse, 
and so on till twelve is counted. 

(22.) Position D. At one^ incline the body for- 
ward as in a low bow, and at two^ incline backward 
to the same extent. Count eight. 

(23.) Inhale slowly. Exhale suddenly and forci- 
bly, with the sound of the letter A. Three times. 

In movements 1, 5, 9, 13, 23, the length of time 
to be occupied by each inhalation should be indi- 
cated by some signal, as the raising and lowering of 
the teacher's hand ; the raising of the hand being 
the signal for the inhalation, and the breath being 
retained while the hand is kept up, and sent out as 
the hand is lowered. 

Other movements, selected from works on gym- 
nastics, or devised by the teacher, or combined from 
the foregoing, may be introduced, as the taste and 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 113 

Physical Exercises. 

ingenuity of the teacher may direct. The following 
is given as an example of several movements com- 
bined in one exercise : 

(24.) Hands hanging at the sides, closed. At one, 
bend the elbows and describe a curve with the 
hands, by bringing them up in front of the chest 
and head, and over outward, so that the arms will 
come to the horizontal, sidewise ; tv^o^ bring the fists 
against the upper and outer portions of the chest ; 
three, throw the right fist forward to the horizontal ; 
four, bring it back against the chest again ; five and 
six, describe the same movements with the left arm ; 
seven and eight, the same w^ith both arms ; after 
which the fists are to be thrust downward to the 
sides, as at first, wdth count one. The same move- 
ment may be repeated, always giving the same num- 
bers to the same parts of the movement. The sec- 
ond time the fists are brought down to their first 
position, it should be w^ith count two; the third 
time, three, and so on. The advantage of this is, 
that at the close of the repetitions, say nine, the 
class will all stop at once and there will be no break 
in the exercise. 

(25.) Marching. — All the lower divisions should 
have exercises in marching as often as once or twice 
a day. By exercising a little ingenuity, the teaclier 
will be able to arrange the files so that all the pupils 
will commence marching at the same time, and end 
at the same time. The children should keep togeth- 
er in their time, and this should be regulated by 
appropriate singing. If the singing can not be se- 
10* 



114 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Physical Exercises. 

cured, the pupils may repeat verses in concert, and 
march to the measure of tlie poetry. 

(26.) Military Movements. — Occasional exercises 
in marching, counter-marching, facing, dressing, and 
halting, with military precision, may be profitably 
introduced. They will not require the use of arms 
nor any substitute for them. For full directions re- 
specting these movements, teachers are referred to 
Eoot's School Amusements, and The Boy Soldier, by 
the same author. 

§ 106. Teachers should guard their pupils against 
all constrained and unnatural postures. The posi- 
tion " hands lehinrV^ induces a stooping posture, and 
should generally be avoided."^ The habit of stoop- 
ing over desks while engaged in exercises requiring 
the use of the pen or pencil, is one of the most seri- 
ous evils now existing in schools, and its deleterious 
influence upon the health and form of pupils is 
abundantly manifest. 

It is true that many teachers devote special atten- 
tion to this matter, but in most cases the cure is by 
no means radical or permanent, and a more efficient 
and systematic course of treatment is required. 
There are many schools in which the pupils are re- 
quired to give special attention to physical move- 
ments, at frequent and regular intervals, and yet 
lose more every day by indulging in this dangerous 
habit than they gain by the gymnastic exercises. 

* See Report of S. W. Seton, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, 
New York, 1856. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 115 

Habit of Stooping. 

As a first step toward the correction of this evil, 
teachers should inform themselves and their pupils 
of its nature and magnitude. The next step of prog- 
ress should be a firm resolve to overcome it, what- 
ever may be the efi'ort required. 

With most pupils, a frequent admonition from the 
teacher will be sufficient to establish the habit of 
sitting erect, and when this habit is once formed, 
very little attention will be needed to perpetuate it. 

But when this measure is found to be ineffectual, 
a persistent habit of stooping at the desk should be 
treated as a misdemeanor, afi'ecting the deportment 
average of the pupil the same as any other example 
of misconduct.^" 

* " Tlie training of children in sitting, standing, and walking, 
and in the use of the organs of respiration and of utterance, are 
among the first things to be attended to in the physical education 
at school." — John D. Philhrick, Superintendent of Schools, Boston. 



116 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



Chicago High School. 



COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

FOR A 

HIGH SCHOOL, 

EMBRACING 

A aENERAL COUKSE 

AND 

A CLASSICAL COURSE. 



■« » *» » 



The circumstances of different cities and towns are 
so various, that it is impossible to devise a course of 
study equally adapted to all high schools. 

The following outline embodies substantially the 
course adopted in the Chicago High School. Some 
of its features have been borrowed from the course 
of study adopted in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cincin- 
nati, Boston, and other cities, and some of them are 
the fruit of observation and experiment during a 
period of six years. 

The greatest danger, even with the time extended 
to four years, is that of crowding too much labor 
into each period of the course. It is not always suf- 
ficient to arrange the course so that pupils will not 
be required to carry a large number of studies at a 
time. Cases will frequently arise in which certain 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 117 



Length of Course. 



portions of a text-book may, without serious loss, be 
either omitted altogether, or used only for occasional 
reference. These should by all means be marked in 
the class, and treated accordingly. A reasonable 
amount well learned, is better than more learned 
imperfectly ; and either of these is far better than 
the highest intellectual acquisitions obtained in ex- 
change for good health. 

"When the time of the course is reduced to three 
years, still greater care will be required to avoid 
tasking pupils beyond their strength, and to prevent 
them from overtasking themselves. The tendency 
to this evil will be greatly diminished, if pupils can 
be retained in the grammar schools till they are 
thoroughly prepared to enter the high school. E'o 
pupil should be received to the high school under 
twelve years of age, and in many cases thirteen 
years would be a better limit to establish. 

The highest standard of requirement in all the 
classes should be attainable by pupils of average 
capacity, without the necessity of studying during 
hours required for exercise and relaxation. But in 
attempting to remove the evil of overtasking pupils, 
we should remember that there is also danger of 
falling into the opposite extreme. If pupils are 
tasked beyond their strength, the school is justly 
chargeable with blame. But if the standard is 
dropped so low that it fails to stimulate the scholars 
to habits of thoroughness and self-reliance, then is 
the school itself a failure, and every community 
would so regard it. 



118 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

General Department. 



HIGH SCHOOL. 

SYNOPSIS OF THE GENERAL COURSE. 

FIRST YEAR. 

First Term. — Algebra ; German or Latin ; Descriptive Geography. 

Second Term. — Algebra ; German or Latin ; English Grammar 
and Analysis. 

Third Term. — Arithmetic ; German or Latin ; Physical Geog- 
raphy. 

SECOND YEAR. 

First Term. — Algebra ; German or Latin ; Universal History. 
Second Term. — Geometry ; German or Latin ; Universal History. 
Third Term. — Geometry ; German or Latin ; Universal History ; 
Botany. 

THIRD YEAR. 

First Term.— Geometry ; German, or Latin, or French ; Physi- 
ology ; Rhetoric. 

Second Term. — Trigonometry ; German, or Latin, or French ; 
Natural Philosophy ; English Literature. 

Third Term. — Mensuration, Navigation, and Surveying 5 Ger- 
man, or Latin, or French ; Natural Philosophy ; English Literature. 

FOURTH YEAR. 

First Term. — Astronomy ; German, or Latin, or French ; Intel- 
lectual Philosophy ; Constitution of United States and Book-keeping. 

Second Term. — Chemistry ; German, or Latin, or French ; Logic ; 
Political Economy. 

Third Term. — Geology and Mineralogy ; Gerrtian, or Latin, or 
French ; Moral Science ; Political Economy. 

Drawing during the second, third, and fourth years. Such at- 
tention to reading, spelling, and penmanship, through the course, 
as may be necessary to secure satisfactory attainments in these 
branches. Rhetorical exercises, music, and physical exercises 
through the course. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 119 

CMiissical Ut'partmeiit. 

At the begin iiiiig of tlie third year, those in the 
General Department are allowed to continue their 
Latin or German, or choose French instead, for tlie 
remainder of the course. Thus no pupil in the Gen- 
eral Department studies more than one foreign lan- 
guage at the same time, and all are permitted to 
take two at some time in the course, if desired. 

Those pupils who elect to take Latin during the 
first and second years, can defer their choice be- 
tween the Classical and the General Course till the 
commencement of the third year. 

SYNOPSIS OF THE CLASSICAL COURSE. 
FIRST TEAE. 

First Term. — Algebra ; First Latin Book ; Descriptive Geog- 
raphy. 

SKCt)ND Term. — Algebra ; First Latin Book ; English Grammar 
and Analysis, 

Third Tkrm. — Arithmetic ; Latin Eeader ; Physical Geography. 

SECOND YEAR. 

FiBST Term. — Algebra ; Latin Reader ; Universal History. 

Seconb Term. — Geometry ; Cassar ; Universal History. 

Third Term. — Geometry ; Ceesar ; Universal History ; Botany. 

THIRD YEAR. 

First Term. — Greek ; Csesar or Cicero ; Physiology. 

Second Term. — Greek ; Cicero ; Natural Philosophy. 

Third Term. — Greek, Anabasis ; Cicero ; Natural Philosophy. 

FOURTH YEAR. 

First Term.— Greek, Anabasis ; Virgil, Eclogues ; Cicero ; Latin 
Prose. 



120 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Forms of Organization. 

Secojmd Term. — Greek ; Virgil, ^neid and Georgics ; Latin Prose. 
Third Teem. — Greek, Iliad ; Virgil, JSneid ; Review of Latin. 

Drawing during the second, third, and fourth years. Rhetorical 
exercises, music, and physical exercises through the course. Such 
attention, through the course, to reading, spelling, and penman- 
ship, as may be necessary to secure satisfactory attainments in 
these branches. Classical antiquities, military affairs, during the 
second year. Classical antiquities, civil affairs, during the third 
year. Classical antiquities, mythology, during the fourth year. 
Ancient geography, in connection with the literature and history of 
Greece and Rome. 



DIFEEREISTT FORMS OF ORGAISriZATIOE^. 

In the organization of high schools, three differ- 
ent forms have been adopted by different cities and 
towns. 

1. That which embraces a general course and a 
classical course in the same school ; the parents or 
guardians of the pupils being allowed to elect be- 
tween the two courses. 

2. A division into two distinct schools, an English 
high school, and a classical school, each independent 
of the other. 

3. A union of the two courses in one classical and 
English school, in which all the pupils are required 
to study both the English branches and the classics. 

The first of these forms is illustrated by the course 
already presented, and by the course adopted in the 
St. Louis High School. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 121 

Boston English High School. 

The second form is illustrated by the high schools 
of Boston. 

The third form is illustrated by the high schools 
of Cincinnati. 



COURSE OF STUDY 

IN THE 

ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL, 

BOSTON. 



FIRST YEAR. 

1. Keview of preparatory studies, using the text-books author- 
ized in the grammar schools of the city ; 2. Ancient Geography ; 
3. General History ; 4. Algebra ; 5. French Language ; 6. Drawing. 

SECOND YEAR. 

1. Algebra, continued ; 2. French Language, continued ; 3. Draw- 
ing, continued ; 4. Geometry ; 5. Book-keeping ; 6. Rhetoric ; 7. Con- 
stitution of the United States ; 8. Trigonometry, with its application 
to surveying, navigation, mensuration, astronomical calculations, 
etc. ; 9. Evidences of Christianity, — a Monday morning lesson. 

THIRD YEAR. 

1. Trigonometry, with its applications, etc., continued; 2. Evi- 
dences, continued, — a Monday morning lesson ; 3. Drawing, con- 
tinued ; 4, Astronomy ; 5. Natural Philosophy ; 6. Moral Philos- 
ophy ; 7. Political Economy ; 8. Natural Theology ; 9. English 
Literature ; 10. French, continued ; or the Spanish language may 
be commenced by such pupils as in the judgment of the master have 
acquired a competent knowledge of the French. Physical Geogra- 
phy is permitted. 

11 



122 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Boston Latin School. 

For the pupils who remain at the school the fourth year, the 
course of study is as follows : 

1. Astronomy ; 2. Intellectual Philosophy ; 3. Logic ; 4. Span- 
ish ; 5. Geology ; 6. Chemistry ; 7. Mechanics, Engineering, and 
the higher mathematics, with some option. 

The several classes shall also have exercises in English composi- 
tion and declamation. The instructors shall pay particular attention 
to the penmanship of the pupils, and give constantly such instruc- 
tion in spelling, reading, and English grammar, as they may deem 
necessary to make the pupils familiar with these fundamental 
branches of a good education. 



COrESE OF STUDY 

IN THE 

LATIN HIGH SCHOOL, 

BOSTON. 



FIRST TEAR. 
1, Latin Grammar ; 2. English Grammar ; 8. Eeading English ; 
4. Spelling ; 5. Mental Arithmetic ; 6. Geographical Questions ; 
7. Declamations ; 8. Penmanship ; 9. Latin Lessons ; 10. Latin 
Eeader. 

SECOND YEAR. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, continued. 11. Viri Komee ; 12. Written Trans- 
lations ; 13. Arithmetic; 14. Cornelius Nepos ; 15. Latin Prose 
Composition. 

THIRD TEAR. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, continued. 16. Greek Grammar ; 
17. Greek Lessons ; 18. Ca3sar's Commentaries ; 19. French Gram- 
mar ; 20. Exercises in speaking and reading French, with a native 
French Teacher. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 123 



Cincinnati Hisrh Schools. 



FOURTH YEAR. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, continued. 21. Ovid's 
Metamorphoses; 22. Greek Prose Composition ; 23. Greek Reader; 
24. Algebra ; 25. English Composition ; 26. Le Grandp^re. 

FIFTH YEAR. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, continued. 27. Vir- 
gil ; 28. Elements of History 5 29. Translations from English into 
Latin. 

SIXTH YEAR. 

1, 7, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, continued. 30. Ge- 
ometry ; 31. Cicero's Orations; 32. Composition of Latin verses; 
33. Composition in French ; 34. Ancient History and Geography, 

The instructors shall pay particular attention to the penmanship 
of the pupils, and give constantly such instruction in spelling, read- 
ing, and English grammar, as they may deem necessary to make 
the pupils familiar with those fundamental branches of a good 
education. 



COUESE OF STUDY 

IN THE 

CINCINNATI HIGH SCHOOLS. 



FIRST YEAR. 

First Session. — Latin Lessons, with Latin Grammar, five lessons 
per week ; English History, five lessons per week ; Algebra, five 
lessons per week. 

Second Session. — Latin Lessons, with Latin grammar, five lessons 
per week ; Anatomy and Hygiene, five lessons per week ; Latin 
Grammar, five lessons per week ; Algebra, five lessons per week ; 
Lectures by Principal, on Morals, Manners, etc., once per week, dur- 
ing year ; Rhetoric, once per week, during year ; Reading and Vocal 



124 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Cincinnati High Schools. 

Music ; Composition and Declamation, by Sections, once in three 
weeks. 

SECOND YEAR. 

First Session. — Latin Lessons completed, with Latin Grammar, 
five lessons per week ; Geometry, five lessons per week ; Natural 
Philosophy, to Pneumatics, five lessons per week. 

Second Session. — Caesar, three Books, or Sallust, one Book, four 
lessons per week ; Geometry, to Book IX., five lessons per week ; 
Natural Philosophy, completed, five lessons per week ; Reading, 
Elemental Sounds, one exercise per week ; Rhetoric and Vocal 
Music, one exercise per week ; Composition and Declamation, by 
Sections, once in three weeks. 

THIRD YEAR. 

First Session. — Chemistry, five les.sons per week ; Virgil's ^ailneid, 
three Books, four lessons per week ; German or French, four lessons 
per week ; Algebra and Spherics, completed, five lessons per week. 

Second Session. — Cicero, three Orations, four lessons per week ; 
German or French, four lessons per week ; Chemistry, five lessons 
per week ; Trigonometry, completed, five lessons per week ; Consti- 
tution of the United States, completed, one exercise per week ; 
Reading, Rhetoric, and Vocal Music, one exercise per week ; Com- 
position and Declamation, by Sections, once in three weeks. 

FOURTH YEAR. 

First Session. — Horace, five Satires and the Ars Poetica, four les- 
sons per week ; German or French, four lessons per week ; Astron- 
omy completed, five lessons per week ; Physical Geography and 
Geology completed, five lessons per week ; Moral Philosophy, by 
Lectures, one exercise per week ; Logic, completed, one exercise 
per week. 

Second Session. — German or French, four lessons per week ; Men- 
tal Philosophy, completed, five lessons per week ; General History, 
completed, five lessons per week ; Navigation and Surveying, com- 
pleted, five lessons per week ; Evidences of Christianity, by Lec- 
tures, one exercise per week ; Critical Readings, Vocal Music, one 
exercise per week ; Composition, by Sections, once in three weeks ; 
Original Addresses, 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 125 

Examinations. 

COLLEGE CLASS. 

In view of preparation to enter college, this class is permitted to 
substitute the following studies for the regular ones, in the fourth 
3^ear : 

Greek Grammar, completed ; Greek Reader, completed ; Cicero's 
Orations, six in number ; Virgil's ^neid, six Books ; Cassar or Sal- 
lust, completed. 



ADMISSIO]^ TO HIGH SCHOOLS. 

John S. Hart, LL. D., formerly principal of the 
Philadelphia High School, is entitled to the credit 
of having first perfected a thorongh and satisfactory 
system of examining candidates for admission to a 
high school.* The main features of the method em- 
ployed by Mr. Hart in the Philadelphia High School, 
nearly twenty years ago, have since been extensively 
adopted, with various minor changes, in all parts of 
the country. 

The following is an outline of the form of exami- 
nation adopted in Chicago. 

On the morning of the examination a card is pre- 
sented to each candidate, wdth a number written on 
it by which the candidate is known during the day. 
On the back of this card are printed several direc- 
tions and explanations. 



* The Reports of Mr. Hart, for the years 1846 and 1850, were 
documents of uncommon value, containing elaborate and graphic 
sketches of the organization and management of a large high 
school,* with an extended course of study. 
11* 



126 



COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



Examinations. 




DIRECTIONS TO CANDIDATES. 



1. Throughout the examination, you will be known only by 
the number on the opposite side of this card. 

2. Do not write your name upon any of your exercises. 

3. Write your number very plainly at the upper left-hand 
corner of each exercise ; your age in years and months at the 
upper right-hand corner ; and the date in the middle, so that 
they will all be on the same line. 

4. You can make any use of slates and pencils while preparing 
your answers ; but the answers on the paper which you pass in 
must all be written in ink. 

5. Number each answer to correspond with the number of the 
question, leaving for this purpose a margin on the left of each 
page. 

6. Avoid all communication with other candidates. 

7. Be careful not to lose this card. Candidates admitted will 
bring their cards with them at the opening of the school. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 127 



Admission to High School. 



Small slips of paper are next distributed amono- 
tlie candidates, on which they write their names 
and the numbers on their cards. These papers are 
collected and immediatelj locked in one of the 
desks till after the Board has decided on the admis- 
sions. They are then used to identify the successful 
applicants. 

After attending to these preliminaries, the candi- 
dates are distributed in diiferent rooms, and arranged 
at separate desks, so as to prevent, as far as possible, 
any opportunity for communication with one an- 
other. Each candidate is furnished with a slate and 
pencil, and with pen, ink, and paper. The ques- 
tions for the first exercise, previously prepared by 
the superintendent, or by the teachers of the high 
school, are now distributed at the same moment in 
all the rooms, and the candidates are allowed a defi- 
nite time to write out their answers,— usually from 
an hour to an hour and a half, according to the 
number and difiiculty of the questions. Every efi'ort 
is made to put the candidates as much at ease as 
possible, and to secure them from all unnecessary 
embarrassment. If they do not understand any of 
the requirements, or lack any little convenience 
for writing out their work, they are requested to 
make known their difiiculties with the utmost free- 
dom. When the time appointed for the first exer- 
cise expires, the answers written by the candidates 
are collected together, whether completed or not, 
and the next set of questions is distributed as before, 
and so on, through the day. 



128 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Admission to High School. 

Besides the teachers of the high school, on whom 
the examination chiefly devolves, one or more mem- 
bers of the Board of Education and the superin- 
tendent are also in attendance dimng a portion or 
all of the examination, but no other spectators are 
admitted. 

Most of the labor still remains to be performed, 
after the candidates are dismissed. Several days are 
now spent by the teachers in examining the papers 
that have been written. Every answer is read with 
care, and its value, estimated on a scale of 100, is 
marked in the margin. The sum of these estimates 
standing against the several answers on any one 
paper, divided by the number of questions assigned, 
gives the average for that exercise. The averages of 
each candidate, in all the different branches, are set 
against the card-number by which he is known dur- 
ing the examination ; but the averages in arithmetic 
and English grammar are multiplied by two when 
they are entered, because the examination in these 
branches affords a safer test of the candidate's ability 
to sustain a position in the high school than the ex- 
amination in branches that are more mechanical, or 
that depend more upon the pupil's memory, and less 
upon his powers of reasoning and judging. The sum 
of the averages now standing against any number, 
divided by the number of branches increased by 
two, gives the general average of the candidate des- 
ignated by this number. To render the result of the 
examination still more reliable, the teachers usually 
select the papers of all the candidates whose general 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 129 



Admission to High School. 



averages are witliin five or ten per cent, of the lowest 
rank that will probably be admitted, whether above 
or below, and revise the estimates with special care. 
This measure insures the correction of any slight 
errors that may have occurred in estimating the 
answers of any candidate who could possibly be 
affected by such errors. The names of the candi- 
dates are never seen by any one, from the time when 
they are received on the morning of tlie examination 
till after this revision of estimates, and the final de- 
cision of the Board upon the admissions. 

As the question of a candidate's admission or re- 
jection depends entirely upon the general average of 
his examination, it is hardly possible that injustice 
should be done to any of the applicants. There are 
frequent cases in which candidates are not able to 
do justice to themselves i and these instances would 
be far more numerous if the examinations were con- 
ducted orally. A large number and variety of ex- 
periments have been tried by different boards of 
examiners, and they have almost invariably resulted 
in the decision that written examinations afford the 
most reliable test of qualifications, and are on the 
whole the most just and satisfactory to all parties. 

If any instance occurs in which an applicant is 
supposed to be rejected for insufficient reasons, the 
answers on which this rejection is based are always 
on file at the school, or at the office of the Board 
of Education, in the applicant's own hand, and can 
be examined at any time by the candidate or his 
friends. 



130 C(^URSE OF INSTRUCTION 

School Records. 

In estimating the examinations in reading, each 
candidate is requested to read two short passages, 
one in poetry and one in prose. • The estimates in 
penmanship are based npon the written answers that 
are given in other branches. 



SCHOOL EECOKDS. 

[The importance of securing greater uniformity in school statistics 
has long been felt, and numerous educational reports have sent out 
earnest calls for improvements in the methods of making and preserv- 
ing school records. The report of Cincinnati for 1856, by A. J. Rickoff, 
Esq., Superintendent of Schools, contained several valuable recommen- 
dations on this subject. 

The following views were embodied in the author's annual report for 
1858-9, in the hope that by presenting in tangible form the leading ob- 
jects to be sought, and offering a few practical suggestions respecting 
the best means to be employed, one step of actual progress would be 
made in lessening the evils that existed. Several important efforts in 
the same direction have since been made by school officers and educa- 
tional conventions, and it is now safe to say that considerable progress 
has been made toward the accomphshment of the desired end.] 

The subject of school records demands more care- 
ful attention from teachers and school directors than 
it has hitherto received. If the records of a school 
are properly kept, in the hands of a judicious teacher 
they become an important auxiliary to the healthful 
discipline and progress of the school, and at the close 
of a term or year the general summaries and aver- 
ages afford valuable information respecting the char- 
acter and success of the school, and its just claims to 
continued favor and support. 

In many schools the records are so meager or so 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 131 



8cliool Records. 



inaccurate that very little practical benefit can be 
derived from tliem. In others they are so compli- 
cated and minute, tliat teachers find it impossible to 
devote the time required by them, without neglect- 
ing other important duties."^^ 

Such records only should be required as will be 
of some practical value or general interest, and the 
greatest care should be taken to make the directions 
for keeping them so plain and explicit that even an 
inexperienced teacher, with ordinary care, will be in 
no danger of falling into errors. 

The three essential elements of the records which 
are designed more particularly to aid the teacher in 
raising the standard of scholarship and discipline, 
are attendance^ scholarship, and deportment. 

In respect to the records from which the general 
summaries are prepared at the close of the year, it 
is to be regretted that so little uniformity exists in 
different cities and towns. The practice of exchang- 
ing school reports now prevails in all parts of the 
country, and comparisons are constantly made re- 
specting the cost of instruction, regularity of attend- 
ance, etc. ; but the data from which these results are 
obtained are so different in dififerent places that the 
comparisons, in a majority of cases, are entirely un- 
reliable. In one city or town the cost of instruction 



* '• School statistics are far inferior, in completeness and accuracy, 
to the commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural statistics of the 
day. It ought not to be so, for certainly the products of the school- 
room can vie in value with the products of the farm or the factory." 
— A. J. Rickoff, Superintendent of Schools, Cincinnati. 



132 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

School Eecords. 

for each scholar is based on the average num'beT en- 
rolled during the year, and in another on the whole 
member. In one, the cost of instruction embraces 
all the expenditures for school purposes, including 
permanent investments; in another, it includes the 
current expenses for tuition, supplies, and repairs, 
together with five or six per cent, on the whole val- 
uation of the school estates, which is regarded as 
rent; and in a third it includes only tuition, sup- 
plies, and repairs. 

In one city or town, a pupil who is absent from 
school a single week, is marked as left^ and his ab- 
sences no longer aifect the attendance averages. In 
another, the name of a pupil is crossed from the roll 
when he has been absent two weeks ; in another, 
when he has been absent a month ; and there are 
instances in which the absences continue to count to 
the end of the term, even though the pupil may have 
left at the close of the first week. 

Of the various statistical results which are em- 
bodied in the reports of difi'erent cities and towns, 
the following are generally regarded as the most 
important : 

1. Average number belonging. 

2. Average daily attendance. 

3. Per cent, of daily attendance on average num- 
ber belonging. 

4. Whole number of different scholars. 

5. Expense per scholar on average number be- 
longing. 

The first of these, the average niiinher helonging^ 



FOR gradi<:d schools. 



133 



School Records 



is, in many respects, the most important of the five. 
It is the basis of all reliable estimates in regard to 
the accommodations required, the number of teach- 
ers, and the expense of sustaining the schools. 

The point which chiefly concerns us in this con- 
nection, is the condition on which a pupil shall for- 
feit his seat in school. If we can secure uniformity 
of practice in this particular, one important object 
will be accomplished. In the public schools of 
Chicago, when a pupil is suspended from school by 
any of the rules of the Board of Education, he is 
recorded as having left, and in all other cases, when 
a pupil is absent more than five consecutive school- 
days, he is recorded as having left — the date of leav- 
ing being at the close of the fifth day. This rule is 
adopted, not because we have any very strong pref- 
erence for the exact period of one week, but because 
this limit is found on trial to be as convenient as 
any other, and because it is the period adopted in 
many other cities. 

The second item of the foregoing list, average daily 
attendance, is easily obtained, and the practice of dif- 
ferent cities and towns is nearly uniform in regard 
to it. 

The per cent, of daily attendance on the average 
number helonging is, in most cases, a pretty safe 
index to the general character and progress of the 
school. The accuracy of this result depends mainly 
upon the accuracy of the record from which the av- 
erage number helonging is obtained. 

The lohole number of different scholars^ when com- 
12 



134 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

School Records. 

pared with the average number belonging^ shows 
approximately the per cent, of changes that take 
place in the membership of a school. This j)er cent, 
varies greatly in different places. 

The cost of instruction per scholar is an item of 
special importance, and it is to be regretted that so 
little uniformity has heretofore prevailed in respect 
to the manner of obtaining it. That this estimate 
should properly be based on the average numher he- 
longing^ and not on the whole number of different 
scholars during the year, nor on the average daily 
attendance^ must, I think, be evident to any one who 
will carefully examine the subject. The whole num- 
ber of different scholars m?.y vary from year to year 
to any extent, without affecting materially the num- 
ber of seats required, or the number of teachers, or 
the actual expense of sustaining the schools, provided 
the average number belonging remains unchanged. 
In a city having accommodations for 10,000 scholars, 
the whole number of different pupils may be swelled 
by constant changes to 20,000, without increasing 
the actual enrollment at any time beyond the ori- 
ginal 10,000. If, now, we estimate the cost of in- 
struction per scholar on the whole number enrolled^ 
it will appear to be only one half as great as it would 
if the membership of the school remained unchanged. 
Here, then, is an apparent reduction of one half the 
cost of instruction per scholar, without any reduction 
whatever in the actual expenditures. The truth is, 
the city is taxed for the instruction of 10,000 chil- 
dren, and not for the instruction of 20,000, and the 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 135 

School Records. 

estimates should be made to correspond with the 
facts. 

•So also of the average attendance', it may be high 
or low, but so long as the average number helonging 
is the same, the labor and ex]3ense are but slightly 
aifected. Each pupil enrolled as a member of the 
school, must have a seat, whether present or absent. 

In some cases, two separate averages are made, 
one giving the cost per scholar on the average num- 
ber belonging^ and the other on the whole nuwher. 
To this practice there can be no objection, as it will 
not be likely to mislead. 

The foregoing suggestions respecting school rec- 
ords, are presented in the hope that they may con- 
tribute, in some degree, to the introduction of greater 
uniformity of p)ractice in this important department 
of school economy. 

At a meeting of the ISTational Teachers' Association, 
held at Buffiilo, in 1860, a valuable rejDort on school 
statistics was presented by C. S. Pennell, Esq., of 
St. Louis, chairman of a special committee appoint- 
ed for this object at a previous meeting. The fol- 
lowing extracts are copied from Mr. Pennell's re- 
port: 

"The committee have corresponded with superintenrients and 
teachers, and have examined school reports as extensively as they 
have been able. They find the sentiment very prevalent that our 
school statistics, as now collected and presented, have far less value 
than they ought to possess ; and they are compelled to believe this 
sentiment founded in truth. This does not, however, in the least 
diminish our estimate of the value of reliable records, nor weaken 
our confidence that our school records may serve a very valuable 
purpose. Theoretic views must be subjected to actual trial, and 



136 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

School Records. 

the results of the trials can be presented in no better way than in 
statistical tables. 

****** 

"The record of attendance must embrace the following particulars, 
and may be much extended. 

" 1st, Whole number of pupils enrolled during the year. 

"This must not be confounded with the whole number in the 
district or town of legal age to attend school, as shown by the 
census. 

"2d. Number tramf erred during the year. 

"These names will have been entered twice, and their number 
must be deducted from the first item in order to give the number 
of different pupils that have attended during the year, 

"3d. Average number belonging to the school or town. 

* ' 4th. Average daily attendance. 

" In order that these statistics may possess value, the original entries 
must he correct. This, it is believed, has too often not been the case. 
The records required by committees and superintendents, instead of 
being few and simple, have often been complex and voluminous, 
and teachers seeing little use made of them, have grown negligent. 
The popular distrust Avhich has arisen in consequence of careless- 
ness, has been urged as an excuse for continued want of care. 
Cases are found in which the average attendance is greater than the 
whole number registered, and also greater than the number of 
seats in the building. Such want of care admits of no justification. 
Correctness is the demand of honesty. 

'• The meaning of the several headings should he made perfectly obvious. 
There is oftener fault in this particular than those who make the 
forms and reports are aware of. 

****** 

" We believe the ' average number belonging' to be the proper 
number for all estimates of expenses, per cent, of attendance, num- 
ber of pupils to a teacher, etc. We find no dissent from this opin- 
ion where we have been able to consult. 

"How shall the 'average number belonging' to the school be 
determined? To obtain the 'whole number of names enrolled' is 
easy ; so of the ' average attendance ;' but with this quite other- 
wise. 

***** ?H 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 137 



School Records. 



" We would suggest the following modes of determining who are 
members, as either of them would be better than the present want 
of method : 

' ' 1st. That, without the present attempt at uniformity, the school 
report should alwa5's contain an intelligible account of the method 
by which the ' average number belonging' is obtained. The con- 
sideration of these different methods will have a tendency, year by 
yeai', to produce uniformity. Or, 

"2d. That the account of membership, for this purpose, be en- 
tirely disconnected from the exclusions from school which are of a 
penal kind ; and that, whatever the cause of the absence may be, 
decease alone being excepted, the pupil be considered a member for 
a certain number of days, say four, after he has ceased to attend 
that on the fifth day the name be dropped." 

The following extract is taken from the report of 
a committee of the Massachusetts State Teachers 
Association, prepared by John D. Philbrick, Esq., 
Superintendent of Schools, Boston : 

"To ascertain the average whole number helonging with uniform- 
ity and exactness, is the most difficult matter connected with edu- 
cational statistics. The percentage of attendance based on this, and 
ascertained by dividing the average daily attendance by the average 
whole number belonging, is what has been aptly denominated, by 
the late president of this association, in an article on the subject, in 
the March number of the Massachusetts Teacher, the true merit of at- 
tendance. Now this percentage may be increased in two ways ; 
first, by making the dividend as large as possible, that is, the daily 
attendance ; and so far as teachers and scholars are concerned, all 
the merit lies here. As a general rule, the attendance of a pupil 
should not be counted, unless he is present during the session, or 
long enough to substantially accomplish the work of the session." 

In 1860, Ira Divoll, Esq., Superintendent of St. 
Louis Public Schools, issued a circular on this sub- 
ject to superintendents and school commissioners, 
from which the following extracts are taken : 

12* 



138 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

School Recoids. 

^'Registration of Pupils and Attendance. — This portion of statistical 
matter should embrace — 

"1. The whole number of pupils enrolled, of each sex (exclusive 
of duplicate registrations caused by transferring). 

" 2. The average number belonging, for the year. 

" 3. The average number in daily attendance, for the year. 

"The character of the attendance of pupils determines the de- 
gree of usefulness of schools. Records of tardiness and punctuality 
are also important. 

"The ages of the pupils enrolled are important in determining 
the standing and grades of different schools. It is also desirable to 
know the minimum and maximum ages at which, pupils are admitted 
to school in different cities. 

*' Statistics showing the number of children represented by par- 
ents in particular occupations, are valuable, in determining, as 
nearly as possible, to what degree the different classes of society 
avail themselves of the advantages of public schools. 

"The nativity of children is important enough to be noted in 
school reports. The degree of homogeneity among the scholars 
has its influence on the standing of the school. 

"The number of pupils in different studies also determines the 
grade and standing of the schools. 

" Whenever evening schools are a part of the public-school sys- 
tem, they should be as carefully and reliably reported as the day 
schools. 

*' A clear distinction should be made in items of cost, between 
those for the schools proper, and for other purposes. 

" If any thing useful is to come from comparing the school sta- 
tistics of one city with those of another, they must not only be 
correct, but they must be uniform. Suppose the average number 
of pupils belonging (as this is the number for which accommodations 
and instruction must be provided), be taken as the basis for esti- 
mating cost, the question at once arises, ' How shall this average 
number belonging to school be detern)ined V After a child has been regis- 
tered as a member of the school, when, and for what causes, shall 
his connection be severed ; and how long shall he be considered 
a member while he is absent ? Shall his name be stricken from the 
roll immediately, or shall it remain for a day, a week, a month, or 
a quarter ? Shall the reasons of his absence be considered in deter- 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 139 

School Records. 

mining this matter? He ma)' be absent on account of truancy, 
sickness of liimself, sickness in the family, doing errands, visiting, 
working, and a variety of excuses. 

" The rules on this subject, in St. Louis, are as follows : 

"1. A pupil may be suspended (not expelled) for a variety of 
causes, and while under suspension his name is stricken from the 
roll. 

"2. If a pupil has deceased, or has positively left the city with- 
out the intention of returning, his name is stricken from the roll 
immediately. 

" 3. If his continued absence is caused by his own sickness, his 
name is retained on the roll for one week, and no longer. 

'• 4. For all other causes of absence, and when no cause is known 
to the teacher, the name is dropped from the record after two days, 
if the pupil do not return. 

" 'J'hese regulations are strictly observed in our schools; the 
number belonging, the nwmhev present, and the j)er cent, of attendance, 
are recorded every half-day in every department." 



USE OF SCHOOL EECORDS. 

A judicions use of tlie Class-Book, in wbicli a rec- 
ord is made of the pupil's standing and progress 
from day to day, is one of tlie most important in- 
strumentalities that teachers can bring to their aid 
in securing punctual attendance and an elevated 
standard of scholarship and deportment. The con- 
sciousness that these elements of character and 
scholarship are permanently recorded, is an abiding 
and potent influence with every pupil who has not 
lost all self-respect and all regard for the good opin- 
ion of his friends. 

ISTo other agency has yet been devised, wdiich is 
half so effective as this in preventing the necessity 
for resorting to corporal punishment in school. If a 



140 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



School Records. 



teacher created the necessity for corporal punish- 
ment, even in a single instance, he wonld be regard- 
ed as unworthy to retain his office. If he can, by a 
proper nse of school records, lessen the necessity for 
punishment, and neglects to avail himself of this 
means, how much less culpable is he to be re- 
garded ? 

In the grammar divisions, the results of these 
records should, if practicable, be sent to the parent 
of the pupils at the close of every month. The 
salutary influence of these frequent rechjnings with 
pupils, in the presence of their parents, cannot be 
over-estimated. 

In the primary divisions, also, these records should 
be made to bear directly and constantly upon the 
character and progress of the pupils. Frequent and 
pointed allusions should be made to them, for the 
purpose of stimulating exertion and checking irreg- 
ularity. When several marks of misdemeanor have 
accumulated against the name of a pupil, he may 
be called to the desk, or detained after school, and 
warned of the consequences. When pupils pass an 
entire week, or other prescribed period, without a 
demerit mark, they may receive a mark of special 
credit. At the close of every day or week, the 
names of all the children that have not been marked 
for misconduct, may be read before the school ; and 
at the close of every month, the names of those that 
have secured the highest rank in deportment may 
be printed on the blackboard. By these and other 
similar means, a gentle pressure of influence may 



p, a lib 




J T 

I 


f! 

1 

! 
1 

1 

1 

1 

1 



§qm 




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A. [Ujy/er half of/ouhcap shed ; to he extended doii-n the whvle Itinjlh of the sheet.] 



f aihj %tm^ d! itteitkncF, ^cblar^ljif aiib 



_.... ...^'uu:uo^,. 

oJ QJonooi., 

^S/u.^^ of. ^/^'.iar/r. 


AGE. 




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II 


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fL^pxrximnii 



M T W T F M T W T F 



iwntpy fepfli'l 



REMARKS. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 141 

School Records. 

be brought to bear at all times upon the children, 
which will serve as a substitute for more than half 
of all the corporal punishment that is now inflicted 
by teachers who have not learned the use of school 
records. 

Similar remarks might also be made respecting 
the records of attendance and scholarship, and simi- 
lar lessons drawn from them, respecting the impor- 
tance of obtaining the best results by the best 
means.* 

In compiling and arranging the forms herewith 
presented, the two great objects sought were sim- 
plicity and completeness. The writer examined and 
compared a large number of the blanks used in dif- 
ferent cities, and endeavored to copy their best fea- 
tures. A trial of over four years in the schools of 
Chicago, has proved the efficiency of these forms in 
accomplishing the object for which they were pre- 
pared. 

Tlie form marked A is the upper portion of a sin- 
gle folio of the Class-Book^ arranged for a month of 
five weeks. When the month contains only four 
weeks, the last week of the form will be left blank. 

* " As a general rule, the teacher, as well as the merchant or 
man of business, who keeps his accounts in a loose, irregular man- 
ner, and seldom posts his books, is the one most likely to meet 
with failure, without knowing the cause." — Rochester Report. 

"Those teachers who so employ a well-adjusted method as to 
reach the highest resiilts, deem the practice of keeping records not 
only a most valuable agency in the whole management of a school, 
but quite indispensable, for which no equivalent can be found as a 
substitute." — Ariel Parish, Member of Mass. Board of Education. 



142 COURSE OF INSTIiLX^TION 



School Records. 



The following directions and explanations will be 
a sufficient guide to the use of the Class-Book. 

A small a denotes absence, t tardiness, and d dismissal ; to be 
placed at the lower left hand corner of the square for a. m., and at 
the lower right hand for p. m. A blank space at the upper left- 
hand corner denotes good scholarship ; at the upper right hand 
corner, good deportment. Marks at the upper left hand denote 
bad lessons ; at the upper right hand, bad conduct. Entries of 
special credit may be made by turning a pencil on its point, so as 
to leave a dot in the same corner that is devoted to the marks of 
error or demerit. 

The highest degree of excellence in the Average columns is denot- 
ed by 100. The column headed General Average combines the three 
averages of Attendance, Scholarship, and Deportment. 'l\\e pupil hav- 
ing the highest rank in the General Average, is marked 1 in the col- 
umn headed Relative Standing; the next highest, 2; and so on 
through the class 

The daily record of scholarship and deportment should be made 
with such fullness and care that the averages at the close of the 
month, may, in the main, be based upon it. In the lower classes 
of the primaiy divisions, these daily marks will necessarily be less 
full and exact than in the more advanced classes, and the teachers 
will be obliged to rely more upon general impressions, and less 
upon the daily record ; but even in the lowest classes, some account 
should be kept of the daily lessons and deportment of the pupils. 

At the close of the school month, the results should be carried 
out in the columns of the Monthly Report, and the name of the 
teacher affixed. The averages should all be carried out in zvholenum- 
bers. When there is a fraction of one half or more, add one to the 
whole number. All fractions less than one half should be dropped. 

The numbers under Punctual, Late, Absent, and Dismissed represent 
half-days. These columns should all be footed up at the close of the 
month. 

Each half-day's absence, unless for sickness, may deduct two from 
100 in the Attendance Average, and each tardiness or dismissal may 
deduct one. Absences and dismissals occasioned by sickness, are 
carried out in their respective columns, but do not affect the At- 
tendance Average. 



B 



potttltla %t\mt 



''/I t/ie H/.'icic/e, /oi. lAe Qyelni ca??i97ie?icc?/f 



MONTH E]\I)!i\G. 



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^° The highest degree of excellence in the Average columns is denoted It 
represent half-days. The column marked Genkral Average comhines the thre 
standing of the Pupil. When the School Month consists of four weeks, each tar 
Average, and each absence deducts 2 ; but absences and dismissals occasioned by 
the month contains five weeks, the deductions for the same number of absences, ti 
four halves, or twice as great, etc. The standard adopted is such that ranks fro| 
Mediate; from 70 to 80, LOW; and under 70, Lowest. 'J'he rank in Depou'jme: 
showing whether the standing of the Pupil is above or below the General Avera(4i 

1^ The Parent or Guardian is respectfully requested to examine and sign thiE 
will be more than a mere formality, and that parents will co-operate with the te k 
time that Pupils are tasked beyond their strength, or that they are not provide 
diately with the teacher on the subject. 



gdj00l 

/^£f' 



^S/a 



aJi) 





1 
P 


General 
Averaj^e of 
the Class. 


1 

Signature of Parent or Guardian. 


. I 




i 
1 
1 


1 


1 
1 


1 




1 






! 
1 



he number 100. Tlie numbers under Punctual, Late, Dismisskd, and Absent 
verages of ArrKNOANCK, Souolarsuip, and Dkportmknt; and shows the general 
ss or dismissal before the close of Scliool deducts 1 from 100 in tlie Attkndanck 
kness do not affect either the Attendanck Average or General Average. When 
nesses, or dismissals, are four-fiftlis as great ; wlien it contains only two weeks, 
lo to 100 may be designated as Highest; from 90 to 95, High ; from 80 to 90, 
ihould in every case be 100. 'J he last column is introduced for the purpose of 
f the wliole class. 

leport each month, and return it by the bearer. It is hoped that this examination 
3rs in their efforts to Improve the character of the schools. If it is found at any 
ith sufiicient employment, the parents are particularly requested to confer imme- 



. di/eac/iC I ^ 'jT^ — 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 143 

School llecoids. 

Tlie Sdiolarsldp and Deportment Averages may be found by deducting 
the number of marks for bad lessons and bad conduct from 100, 
provided the pupil has been present through the month ; but if the 
pupil has been absent any part of the month, the number should 
be proportionally larger. If teachers give their pupils marks of 
special credit, these may, at the discretion of the teacher, be ap- 
plied to cancel a limited number of errors or marks of demerit. 
Tluis, one or two special credit marks may cancel one error or mark 
of demerit ; two or four credit marks may cancel two errors or 
murks of demerit, etc. But rules for removing marks of error or 
demerit should be applied with great caution. Pupils should never 
be suffered to feel that it is an easy matter to secure the removal 
of errors or marks of demerit which have once been placed against 
their names. 

When the month contains five weeks, the Averages may be found 
by deducting four-fifths of the marks from 100. When the month 
contains only two weeks, the Averages may be found by deducting 
four halves of the number of marks, or twice the number ; and for 
three weeks, four-thirds of the number may be deducted. The 
same principle applies to the Attendance Average. 

It may in some cases be proper to deduct more or less than the 
exact number of marks for bad lessons or bad conduct. Whatever 
rule is adopted, the results arrived at in the General Average should 
be such that ranks from 95 to 100 may be designated as highest ; 
from 90 to 95, high; from 80 to 90, mediate; from 70 to 80, low ; 
and under 70, loioest. 

In noting the Relative Standing of different members in a class, it 
will often be found that several pupils have the same General Aver- 
age. In such cases they should be marked alike. Thus, if two 
pupils have each a rank of 98, and that is the highest rank attained- 
by any one in the class, they should both be marked 1 in the col- 
umn of Relative Standing, and so of any lower rank. 

The Monthly Beport to- Parents is copied directly 
from the right-hand column of the Class-Book. See 
accompanying form marked B. 



144 coursp: of instruction 



Self-Reliance. 



SELF-KELIAE'CE. 

The two great objects of intellectual education, 
are mental discipline and the acquisition of knowl- 
edge. The highest and most important of these 
objects is mental discipline, or the power of using 
the mind to the best advantage. The price of this 
discipline is effort. JSTo man ever yet made intel- 
lectual progress without intellectual labor. It is 
this alone that can strengthen and invigorate the 
noble faculties with which we are endowed. 

However much we may regret that we do not live 
a century later, because we can not have the benefit 
of the improvements that are to be made during the 
next hundred years, of one thing we may rest as- 
sured, that intellectual eminence will be attained 
during the 20th century just as it is in the 19th — by 
the lohoT of the hrain. We are not to look for any 
new discovery or invention that shall supersede the 
necessity of mental toil ; we are not to desire it. If 
we had but to supplicate some kind genius, and he 
would at once endow us with all the knowledge in 
the universe, the gift w^ould prove a curse to us, and 
not a blessing. We must have the discipline of ac- 
qidring knowledge, and in the manner established 
by the Author of our being. Without this discipline 
our intellectual stores would be worse than useless. 

The general law of intellectual growth is mani- 
festly this; — whatever may be the mental power 



FOR GRADED SCHDOLS. 145 

Self Reliance. 

which we at any time possess, it requires a repeti- 
tion of mental efforts, equal in degree to those 
wliich we have put forth before, to prevent actual 
deterioration. Every considerable step of advance 
from this point must be by a new and still higher 
intellectual performance. 

There are many impediments in the path of the 
student, which it is desirable to remove; but he 
who attempts to remove all difficulties, or as many 
of them as possible, wars against the highest law of 
intellectual develoj)ment. There can not be a more 
fatal mistake in education, than that of a teacher who 
adopts the sentiment, that his duty requires him to 
render the daily tasks of his pupils as easy as possible. 

There is, perhaps, no error in our schools at the 
present time more deeply seated or more widely ex- 
tended than the ruinous practice of aiding pupils in 
doing work which it is all-important they should do 
for themselves. Our progress in the art of cultivat- 
ing habits of earnest, independent tliought, has not 
kept pace with our improvements in other depart- 
ments of education. Familiar explanations, and 
illustrations, and simplifications, and dilutions, too 
often spare the pupil the labor of thinking for him- 
self, and thus dwarf the intellect, and defeat the 
highest object for which our schools are established. 

To secure from a pupil the solution of a difficult 
problem will often cost time which the teacher can 
ill afford ; it may often cost more effort to secure a 
solution from the pupil, than it costs the pupil to do 
the work. The pupil has tried the problem, and 



146 COURSE OF INSTliUCTION 

Self-Reliance. 

satisfied himself that he is not able to solve it ; the 
teacher may be satisfied that the pupil can perform 
it, but if he can not make the pupil think so too, it 
will be difiicult to bring his best energies to bear 
upon it ; and even after the pupil is persuaded -that 
he is able to accomplish the task, it may still be 
necessary for the teacher to adopt special measures 
to set the pupil's mind at work. The pupil may 
have the ability to solve the problem ; he may be- 
lieve that he has this ability ; and he may have a 
willing mind ; and, after all, fail entirely of doing it. 
And this brings to view what must be regarded as 
the highest gift of the teacher : namely, the ability 
to teach his pupils how to think and act, without 
doing their thinking and acting for them. 

When a pupil has failed to overcome an obstacle, 
his mind may often be quickened to action by re- 
questing him to explain the steps he has taken. 
" Great thoughts," says Dr. Channing, " are never 
fully possessed till he who has conceived them has 
given them fit utterance." So with a pupil attempt- 
ing to surmount a difficulty ; the very efiort required 
to express a thought in language often aids mate- 
rially in grasping the thought itself. 

A scholar had become discouraged over a difficult 
question. He had gone through the solution again 
and again, but could not obtain the answer sought. 
The teacher availed himself of a favorable opportu- 
nity, and requested the pupil to go through the work 
slowly and carefully in his presence. As the pupil 
proceeded the teacher required him to explain each 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 



147 



Self-Reliance. 



step of the process ; and when he reached the point 
where his previous error occurred, as the teaclier 
asked him to give his reason, the pupil's e3^e flashed 
with delight and he exclaimed, "I see my mistake !" 
"Without further assistance lie soon reached a correct 
result. The teacher had not furnished the slightest 
hint in respect to the solution of the problem. He 
had only taken measures which brought the pupil's 
own strength to bear upon it. 

There are, however, peculiar cases which no such 
method will reach. The pupil may be required to 
repeat his solution a hundred times, in the presence 
of the teacher or alone, with reasons or without, and 
all to no purpose. The result, if he reaches one, is 
sure to be wrong. It is not time, even now, for the 
teacher to give over in despair. Let him ask the 
pupil such questions as will call to mind the princi- 
ples which he has occasion to apply, and, in a ma- 
jority of cases, the pupil will need no further aid. 

The same end may usually be gained by giving 
the pupil an example involving the difficulty over 
which he has stumbled, but less complicated in 
other respects ; or by giving him several examples, 
leading gradually to the main obstacle to be over- 
come. I believe the cases are exceedingly rare in 
wdiich minds properly disciplined would ever be 
benefited by direct assistance, in an ordinary course 
of mathematical study. But if it be thought best, 
in extreme cases, to afford this assistance, let the 
pupil, by all means, be required to rejpeat the lyvo- 
cess^ after the teacher's work has been entirely 



148 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Self-Eeliance. 

erased ; and thus derive, at least, the heneiit of re- 
producing^ though he has not the power to originate. 

The teacher will find it a highly nseful exercise 
to give his pupils an occasional model of thhihing. 
Let him take a problem to the blackboard, and 
think aloud as he proceeds with the solution ; so that 
the pupils may witness the action of the teacher's 
mind, and observe the questions he asks himself, and 
the various associations and comparisons that arise, 
as he advances from step to step in the process. 

I am aware that in many schools the teachers can 
not dwell upon particular points with the same degree 
of thoroughness that I have recommended ; but this 
does not aifect the importance of the principle, which 
should be applied whenever the circumstances permit. 

In most of our schools pupils indulge, to a greater 
or less extent, in the practice of assisting one another 
in the solution of difficult questions. I need not say 
that w^e should labor most assiduously to eradicate 
this injurious practice. Pupils should be taught to 
regard it as dishonorable, either to assist others or 
to receive assistance, except under the special cogni- 
zance and direction of the teacher. 

Permit me, in this connection, to allude to one of 
the heJ/ps kindly furnished by a large class of pub- 
lishers and authors, for the special benefit of teach- 
ers ; but which many pupils have thought to be 
quite as Vv-ell suited to their wants as to the wants 
of instructors. I refer to printed keys^ containing 
solutions of all the more difiicult problems in arith- 
metic and other branches of mathematics. 



FOR GKADKl) SCHOOLS. 149 

Self- Reliance. 

There are nndonbtedlj cases in which the thiie of 
the teacher is so limited that it is necessary for him 
to resort to tlie use of a key ; but with pupils their 
effect is always injurious, saj^ping the very founda- 
tion of every thing adapted to promote manly, inde- 
pendent thought. Even with teachers who are com- 
pelled to resort to the use of kej^s for the purpose of 
saving time, it must be confessed that the tendency 
of the practice is to render instruction superficial. 
The very best that can be said of them is that they 
are necessary eviU:^ 

The practice of introducing young children to the 
study of English grammar as a science, and assigning 
them daily lessons to be prepared from a text-book, 
is exceedingly injurious in its influence upon their 
mental habits. A thorough and intelligent analysis 
of the structure of language is beyond the capacity 
of children eight or nine years of age. 

Instruction in the use of language should be com- 
menced as soon as children enter school, and all the 
primary classes should have frequent oral and writ- 
ten exercises in cultivating this important art ; but 
the practice of requiring pupils under ten years of 
age to prepare set lessons from a grammatical text- 
book, often accomplishes little more than to form and 
strengthen the habit of studying without thinking. 



* I refer, in these remarks, to keys that contain the solution of 
difficult questions, and not to those which contain only the answers 
of the prohleras No such evils could arise from the use of keys 
containing answers only. 

13* 



150 COURSE OF INSTRUCriON 



Self- Reliance. 



Few of Tis have any just conception of the latent 
energies of our own minds. It was eloquently said 
by Prof. B. B. Edwards, that " Genius lies buried on 
our mountains and in our valleys;" and he might 
with equal truth have added, that genius lies buried 
in our schools and colleges. 

A successful teacher, of many years' experience, 
w^as accustomed to say to his pupils that he did not 
believe their average intellectual progress was ever 
half so great as they were capable of making. But 
it would be absurd to suppose that pupils do not 
generally devote half so much time to study as their 
duty requires. Most of the pupils in our higher 
seminaries study too many hours in a day already. 
The loss is in the manner of studying. The mind is 
not perfectly abstracted from every thing except the 
subject in hand. The mental energies are not all 
aroused and concentrated on a single point. 

A young man was employed, some years ago, as 
an assistant teacher in a flourishing ]^ew England 
academy. Among the classes which he was called 
to instruct was one composed mostly of older pupils, 
in Day's Algebra. He had been over the greater 
part of this text-book before, but there were two or 
three problems which he had never been able to 
solve. There was one in particular on which he had 
already tried his strength a number of times without 
success. His class was now rapidly approaching 
this portion of the book, and he must be prepared 
for any emergency. He accordingly set himself at 
work, and devoted several hours to the unsolved 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 151 



Self-Eeliance. 



problem ; but still the desired result was as far from 
his grasp as ever. 

Mortifying as the alternative was, he decided at 
length to go to one of the teachers of the school, and 
ask for assistance. The teacher kindly engaged to 
examine the question, but remarked that it was some 
time since he had been over this portion of the work, 
and he really was not quite sure that the method of 
solving it would readily occur to him. The class 
had now reached the section in which his difficulty 
occurred, and there was no time to be lost. After 
waiting one or tv/o days the problem was returned 
to him, without a solution. What could be done? 
To go before his class and acknowledge that he was 
unable to master it, would be to lose caste at once. 
The necessity of the case suggested one more expe- 
dient. He had a friend, in an adjoining city, who 
was quite distinguished as a teacher of mathematics. 
To the house of his friend he now directed his com^se 
with as little delay as possible, but on arriving he 
learned that his friend had left the city and would 
not return for several days. 

His last hope had fled, and his heart sunk within 
him. With a burden of chagrin and mortification 
that was almost insupportable, he commenced re- 
tracing his steps. '' What," thought he to himself, 
'^ am I doing? Why am I here?" And his steps 
gradually quickened, as the excitement of his mind 
increased. He walked a few moments in silence; 
but his emotions soon found audible utterance. " I 
can solve the problem," he said, with emphatic ges- 



152 



couksp: of instruction 



Self-Eeliance. 



tiire, " and I will solve it !" He went to his room, 
seated himself at his table, and did not rise till the 
task was accomplished. 

This single triumph was worth more to him than a 
year of ordinary tuition, and the pleasure it afforded 
seemed to him like the concentration of a life of bliss. 
The solution was written out in full, and at the end 
of it there still stands a memorandum of the date 
and the hour of the night when the desired answer 
was obtained. 

If we examine the intellectual efforts of our pupils 
we shall probably find that nine-tenths of them fall 
.below the maximum of their own previous efforts, 
and can not therefore be taken into the account in 
estimating their intellectual progress. 

Two pupils of equal abilities have the same les- 
son to prepare for recitation. One accomplishes 
the task by putting forth twenty distinct mental 
efforts. Eighteen of these cost him no greater en- 
ergy or activity of mind than he has often brought 
into exercise before. The other two relate to diffi- 
culties which can not be overcome without efforts 
one degree higher than any that he has previously 
made. But the appearance of new difficulties only 
stimulates his mind to action, and the task is ac- 
complished. 

The other pupil puts forth the eighteen efforts that 
come within the range of his previous attainments, 
and leaves the two difficulties which would cost a 
new effort, to be explained at the recitation. To a 
superficial observer, these two pupils may seem to 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 153 

Self-Reliance. 

progress in tlie ratio of 20 to 18; but the true phi- 
losopher will tell us that their progress, so far as 
intellectual growth is concerned, is in the ratio of 
2 to 0. 

It is our misfortune that we have no means of 
measuring and recording from day to day the suc- 
cessive steps of mental growth. Heat and cold, the 
lapse of time, the S2:)eed of lightning, are made tan- 
gible, and measured with ease and exactness. TVe 
can even form a tolerably correct estimate of the 
amount of knowledge acquired in a single day or 
hour ; but our estimates of progress in intellectual 
strength are exceedingly uncertain and often falla- 
cious. It is to be feared that we often give our 
pupils credit for having passed a very profitable 
day in school, when they have actually deteriorated 
in mental power. We are in danger of forgetting 
that they may add to their stores of hnowledge^ with- 
out increasing their intellectual strength. 

Let me here suggest the importance of having 
lessons recited by j9?i^/^6', and not by teachers. 
Many teachers fall into the habit of supplying all 
the ellijjses made by their pupils during recitation. 
A j)upil rises in his place with an air of assurance, 
and proceeds with a full voice till he meets with 
some trifling difficulty, when the teacher supplies 
the desired word or hint, and the pupil proceeds as 
before, till another difficulty arises, and the teacher 
again comes to his aid. 

In this way a very fair recitation is made out; 
and neither teacher nor pupil apj)ears to know that 



154: COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Self-Eeliance. 

if the pupil had been left to stand independent and 
alone he would have made almost an entire failure. 

The practice of asking questions that suggest, 
directly or indirectly, the desired answer, has been 
exposed and condemned again and again in educa- 
tional conventions and educational journals, but it 
has not yet been banished from the school -room. 
Many teachers who are careful to avoid leading 
questions^ still ask altogether too w.any questions. 
Instead of giving the pupil a general topic, and ex- 
pecting him to exhaust it, they kindly throw in a 
number of additional questions, to draw out the 
particulars which the pupil ought to associate with 
the main thought, and present in full, without this 
aid. Younger pupils require more questions than 
those more advanced ; but even younger pupils 
should be allowed to carry some portion of a recita- 
tion without assistance. See ante^ p. 99, § 94. 

Let me not be misunderstood in the views I have 
expressed respecting the importance of requiring 
pupils to rely upon their own resources. The first 
germs of knowledge must come from without^ and 
not from within, and very much of the knowledge 
acquired by younger classes, must be imparted 
directly by teachers and others. There are many 
branches of learning which we must all derive, in a 
greater or less degree, from teachers and books. 
The treasures of knowledge that have been accumu- 
lating for nearly 6000 years, are not to be rejected 
nor lightly esteemed. They are a precious inherit- 
ance ; but he who contents himself in idleness and 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 155 

8elf-Reliance. 

ease, and neglects to put his inheritance to nsuiy, 
will find that his riches are little better than shadows. 

But there are other departments of study, in which 
the value of our acquisitions depends almost entirely 
upon the action of our own minds; and it is upon 
these branches that we depend in a great degree for 
intellectual growth. Here, then, I would apply 
most rigidly the rule — never do for a pupil what he 
is capable of doing for himself. 

Passive instruction is always attended with dan- 
ger to the mental habits of pupils. A haj)py faculty 
of explaining and illustrating the principles of a les- 
son is an exceedingly valuable gift, but it is a gift 
that is often exercised td the detriment of learners. 
Whatever instruction we attempt to impart orally, 
should be given in such a manner that it will not 
fail to find a lodgment in the mind of the pupil. It 
is not sufficient to illustrate principles by examples 
and then leave them. They may even be under- 
stood at the time, and yet not fully jjossessed. The 
learner must go through the jprocess himself^ to be 
sure he is master of it. 

¥ive boys of a class had failed to solve a difficult 
example in their lesson. The teacher went to the 
blackboard, and explained very carefully the man- 
ner in which the work was to be performed. He 
then requested those that understood the explana- 
tion to manifest it, and the five hands were all 
promptly raised. '' Well," said the teacher, remov- 
ing Ids work from the board, "you may all perform 
it now on your slates." The effort was made, but 



156 COUESE Oi^ INSTRUCTION 

Self-Reliance. 

the result showed that only two of the five were able 
to perform the task. The others were perhaps right 
in saying that they understood the work, as the 
teacher explained it, step by step, on the board ; but 
it was quite another thing to do it. 

In our efforts to cultivate habits of self-reliance on 
the part of our puj)ils, one of the best and most feasi- 
ble measures to which we can resort, is the practice 
of introducing frequent written reviews. 

Several topics are written distinctly on the black- 
board, and the pupils are required to expand them 
as fully and accurately as possible. Each pupil is 
seated by himself, and furnished with pen and pa- 
per; but receives no assistance, direct or indirect, 
from either teacher or text-book. See ante^ p. 31, § 9. 

There are too many teachers who seem to regard 
it as their chief business to exercise and develop 
their oion minds, instead of attending to the minds 
of their pupils. There are those who even manage 
to sustain a very good degree of popularity, in school 
and in the community, by a disj)lay of themselves. 
" What stores of knowledge he possesses," says one. 
"How beautiful his illustrations," says another. 
This display of the teacher's knowledge may serve 
for exhibition^ but it will prove of little value to the 
j)upils in after life. The scholar whose attainments 
at school are but the echo of what the teacher has 
learned, will be sure to become one of that large 
class of citizens whose opinions and actions are 
always governed by those who have the independ- 
ence to think and act for themselves. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 157 

Self-Eeliance. 

I liave dwelt at considerable lengtli upon the sub- 
ject of tliis article, because I believe that very few 
pupils are taught to rely sufficiently upon their own 
resources, and because I believe that many of the 
modern appliances in schools militate directly against 
the accomplishment of this object. 

A few brief quotations will close the article. 

" One preliminary truth is to be kept steadily in view in all the 
processes of teaching, and in the preparation of all its instruments, 
viz., that though much may be done by others to aid, yet the 
effective labor must be performed by the learner himself." — Horace 
Mann. 

" Alas ! how many examples are now present to our memory, of 
young men the most anxiously and expensively be-schoolmastered, 
be-tutored, be-lectured, any thing but educated ; who have received 
arms and ammunition, instead of skill, strength, and courage 5 var- 
nished rather than polished ; perilously over-civilized, and most 
pitiably uncultivated ! And all from inattention to the method 
dictated by nature herself, to the simple truth, that as the forms in 
all organized existence, so must all true and living knowledge pro- 
ceed from within ; that it may be trained, supported, fed, excited, 
but can never be infused or impressed." — Coleridge. 

"A man can no more learn by the sweat of another man's brains 
than he can take exercise by getting another man to walk for him. 
All mental improvement resolves itself ultimately into self-improve- 
ment." — Dr. Booth, of Wandsworth, England. 

"The prevailing notion, that we must be taught every thing, i§ 
a great evil. The most extensive education given by the most 
skillful masters often produces but inferior characters ; that alone 
which we give to ourselves elevates us above mediocrity. The 
eminence attained by great men is always the result of their own 
industry." — Marcel. 

' ' The first error in education is teaching men to imitate, or repeat, 
rather than to think. We need to take but a very cursory glance at 
the great theater of human life, to know how deep a root this radi- 
cal error has struck into the foundations of education."— il/aws/?e^c?'s 

American Education. 

14 



168 THE GRADED SCHOOL. 

Impoitance of Primary Schools 



PRIMAKY SCHOOLS. 



Primary Schools are the basis of our whole sys- 
tem of public instruction. If evils are suffered to 
exist here, thej will manifest themselves in all the 
higlier stages of the pupil's progress, and cling to 
him through life.* 

" Scratch the green rind of a sapling, or wantonly twist it in the soil ; 
The scarred and crooked oak will tell of thee for centuries to come." 

It is in the Primary Schools that more than half 
of all public instruction is imparted, and a large 
portion of the children gathered here do not remain, 
in school long enough to pass into the higher de- 
partments at all. 

In most cities and towns, the Primary Schools 
suiFer in a greater or less degree from the general 
impression that the teachers occupy positions less 
honorable than those of the teachers in the higher 
divisions, and perhaps still more from the pecuniary 
distinction that is often made in favor of teachers in 
the higher grades. 



* " As parts of a great system of public instruction, it is scarcely- 
possible to attucli too much importance to the Primary Schools. 
They are the base of the pyramid, and in proportion as the base is 
enlarged and its foundations strengthened, the superstructure can 
be reared with ease and rapidity in graceful proportions, and to a 
towering height." — Report of Boston School Committee. 



THE GKADKI) SCHOOL. 159 

Primary Teachers. 

It is no disparagement to the teachers to say, that 
Primary chisses are not generally tanght so well as 
classes more advanced.''^ This would probably still 
be true if the Primary classes were taught by the 
teachers of the upper grades. 

Of all the applicants examined by School Direc- 
tors and Superintendents, there are more who are 
found qualified to instruct in the Grammar Schools 
than there are who are qualified to instruct in the 
Primary Schools.f 

To excel as a Primary teacher, reqnires peculiar 
natural gifts, a thorough acquaintance with the first 
principles of knowledge, special fondness for young 
children, and an abiding consciousness that there is 
really no higher department of useful labor than that 
of dvinp; direction to the first efforts of minds that 
are opening to an endless existence.ij: 



* "The weakest point in the whole system of American educa- 
tion, is its deficiency in thoroughness in all the elementary courses." 
— Dr. Sears. 

f " In my search for teachers to fill vacancies, I find ten qualified 
to teach Geometry in a High School, to one who is qualified to 
teach reading in a Primary School ; and in general, it is more difS- 
cult to find teachers adapted to give instruction in the lower grades, 
than in the higher." — A. Freeze, SuperintendeJit of Schools, (Cleveland. 

J " The best teachers are needed for Primary Schools. At no point in 
the whole course of study are the results of incompetent teaching 
so disastrous, as at the commencement. If utter inexperience or 
desperate mediocrity must sit at the teacher's desk, let it be any- 
where, everywhere, save in the Primary School : for anywhere and 
everywhere else will its ability to do irreparable mischief be less, 
At the subsequent stages of education, the mind emerging from the 
state of implicit trust in the mere dicta of the master, begins to 



160 THE GRADED SCHOOL. 

Personal Influence of Teachers. 

There is no other grade of schools in which the 
personal character of the teacher is so directly felt, 
as in the Primary. In the Grammar School, lessons 
are learned from text-books, and very mnch of the 

assert itself, to sift what it receives, and find corrections when they 
are needed — but at the beginning, the mind takes the impress of 
the instruction given, with unquestioning faith, exact as the print 
of the seal upon the wax. The position is confidently assumed, 
that the wise discipline and sound philosophic mental training of 
the children in our Primary Schools, is more important and more 
difficult than that of any other department ; and hence that the 
very best teachers should be assigned to that post of duty. It re- 
quires the clearest insight into the laws of mental life and action 
and the springs of feeling, the broadest views of the philosophy of 
education considered both as a science and an art, and the rarest 
combination of personal qualities, intellectual, moral, and social, 
that can well be conceived. When such teachei-s are found, they 
should be secured at almost any price. The common notion, that 
it matters little who teaches the little ones, or who is the assistant, 
provided an able man is obtained for the advanced scholars, or for 
principal, is exceedingly pernicious. With the exception, perhaps, 
of the principal of a union or graded school, the teachers of the 
Primary Departments should be the best qualified and the best 
paid." — Newton Batevian, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, II- 



" Especially should those to whom the education of the Primary 
classes is committed, be not only competent and apt to teach, but 
equable, dignified, and gentle in their deportment, kind and affec- 
tionate in their disposition, accustomed to self-control, and familiar 
with the wants and peculiarities of the children intrusted to their 
care. As a general rule, much greater maturity of mind is neces- 
sary and desirable for the proper development and discipline of this 
class of pupils, than for those of a more advanced grade ; while, in 
the selection and arrangement of teachers, the youngest and least 
experienced are most frequently assigned to the duties of the for- 
mer. While greater age, of itself, affords no criterion of ability to 
Succeed in this department of instruction, the judgment, the dispo- 



THE GRADED SCHOOL. 161 

Primary Teachers, 

pupil's progress is made without the direct assistance 
of the teacher. But in the Primary Schools, the 
teacher is herself the text-book, the living oracle; 
and nearly all the impressions received by the pupil 
are a direct reflection from her own mind and heart. 

But a teacher may possess every desirable mental 
and moral endowment, and yet, if a position in a 
Primary School is regarded as secondary in impor- 
tance, and a situation in a higher department is con- 
tinually before the mind as an object of ambition 
and desire, it is vain to expect the same degree of 
success that would be realized if no such distinc- 
tion existed. 

Since the duties of Primary teachers are really 
more arduous and responsible than those of teachers 
in the highei' grades, and since most teachers would 
prefer situations in the higher grades, even if the 
compensation was the same as that of the Primary 
teachers, it would be difficult to And a reason, ex- 
cept in the power of custom, for paying the lowest 
salary to teachers of the Primary classes. In St. 
Louis, Chicago, and several other cities, the salaries 
are alike in the Grammar and Primary grades. By 
applying the same scale of salaries to both depart- 
ments, the two positions are made equally honor- 
able, and School Directors are enabled to secure for 



sition, the temper, and the demeanor of the teacher should be nar- 
rowly scrutinized before committing to her guidance the intelh ct- 
ual and moral instruction of the elementary classes in our public 
Bchools." — 5. S. Randall, Superintenderd of Schools, Xew York. 
14* 



162 THE GEADED SCHOOL. 



Special Training of Teacheri 



the pupils of each grade the teachers best qualified 
to instruct them.* 

It is to be regretted that so few Primary teachers 
receive any special trainm^ before entering upon 
the peculiar duties of their office. They are gener- 
ally well educated, but their education has been 
conducted without any particular reference to the 
positions they are called to occupy. It is seldom 
that an examination of teachers occurs in which a 
majority of the applicants are not found to be radi- 
cally deficient in some of the elementary principles 
of Primary instruction. Examples are constantly 
presented in which a candidate who is requested to 
give the sounds of the letters as they occur in some 
common word, replies, with the utmost composure, 

* " 'J'liose active sympathies, winning ways, intuitive perceptions, 
womanly grace and delicacy, which captivate the hearts of all chil- 
dren, united with a well-halanced, well-cultivated mind, and a sin- 
cere desire to make children happy, are indispensable to the success 
of the Primary teacher. To secure these advantages, teachers must 
be selected with special reference to the labor to be done ; and in- 
stead of testing the fitness of teachers for higher grades in the Pri- 
mary Schools, it is respectfully submitted that it would be wisest to 
begin and work in the other direction. And let the scale of wages 
be also inverted, to correspond with the inverted order of rank. 
Let the best wages be paid to the most successful Primary teacher. 
Tradition and reverence for usage hang heavily upon all school 
management and all modes of instruction, but nowhere are these 
more conspicuous or more oppressive, than in the common opinion 
that anybody is competent to teach the little child." — M. F. Cow- 
dery, Superintendent of Schools, Sandusky, Ohio. 

" It requires a nicer tact, more instinctive talent, to manage suc- 
cessfully a Primary School, than one of a higher grade." — Rhode 
Island State Commissioner s Report. 



THE GRADED SCHOOL. 163 



Primary Schools Improving:. 



tliat she has never attended to the sounds of tlie 
letters. Manj^ applicants seem wliolly unconscious 
that there is any necessary connection between their 
familiarity with the rudhnents of learning and their 
fitness to teach a Primary School. 

But while the Primary Schools are still suffering 
greatly from the evils which I have here pointed 
out, it is gratifving to know that the number of well- 
qualified Primary teachers is constantly increasing. 
The attention of educators has been specially turned 
to this subject, and a large number of model Primary 
teachers are now found in every section of the coun- 
try ; and among those that entered upon their labors 
as teachers with inadequate preparation, there are 
many who have made the most earnest efibrts to 
improve their c[ualifications for the positions which 
they occupy. In no department of educational labor 
has improvement been more manifest during the last 
ten years, than in the instruction and discipline of 
Primary Schools. 



164: THE GRADED SCHOOL. 

School Discipline. 



DISCIPLINE 



The system of discipline adopted in schools should 
ever be guarded with special care. Tlie constant 
aim of the teacher should be not merely to secure 
the best discipline, but to secure it by the best 
means. 

That good order and a ready compliance with the 
directions and wishes of the teacher are essential to 
the success of every school, is a point on which all 
are agreed ; but different teachers adopt widely 
different measures to attain this end. One labors 
chiefly to secure the confidence and kind regard of 
his pupils, and to satisfy them that all his require- 
ments are dictated by a sincere and ardent desire 
to advance their best interests. Another appeals 
mainly to the necessity and justice of connecting 
suffering with wrong-doing, and follows every of- 
fence with some form of punishment. He may even 
succeed in satisfying both his pupils and their par- 
ents that the steps he is taking are necessary to the 
order and improvement of his school. 

One commences his efforts before the tendencies 
to misconduct have ripened into action, and avoids 
the necessity for punishment except in extraordinary 
cases ; while the other delays till his rules are violated, 
and is then compelled either to punish the offender, 



THE GRADKD SCHOOL. 165 



School Discipline. 



or abandon his rules, and with them all hope of sub- 
ordination and improvement. 

If, now, we reason from cases like these, that a 
necessity for punishment implies incapacity on the 
part of the teacher to govern, we shall do great in- 
justice to many of the most worthy and successful 
teachers in our schools. Cases will sometimes arise 
in which the best teacher would find it necessary to 
resort to the infliction of punishment for the mis- 
conduct of his pupils. Instances not unfrequently 
occur in which no other course will bring a w^ay- 
ward scholar to reflect long enough to aftord an 
opportunity for higher and better influences to gain 
a lodgment in his mind. 

If, then, on the one hand, we rest satisfied that a 
teacher has done his whole duty when we find that 
his punisliments, though frequent and severe, are not 
disproportionate to the off'ences committed, we are 
in danger of giving sanction to punishments which, 
under the management of a more skillful teacher, 
would have been wholly unnecessary. And, on 
the other hand, if every punishment inflicted by a 
teacher is to be a means of rendering his name 
odious ; if he is not to be sustained by the sympathy 
and approval of school directors and parents, the 
right arm of his authority is paralyzed. This very 
lack of sustaining influence will be the means of in- 
creasing greatly the necessity for punishment, which 
might be avoided if the right to inflict it was never 
called in question. 

The ability to manage a school with the least pos- 



166 



THE GRADED SCHOOL. 



Corpoial Pauishnient. 



sible amount of punislinient, is an attainment of the 
highest order ; and the teachers who possess this 
power should everywhere receive the highest honors 
of the profession and the most liberal rewards. 

The main question at issue respecting corporal 
punishment, is not whether it can be entirely dis- 
pensed with, but how far can the necessity for resort- 
ing to it be reduced, without detriment to the order 
and discipline of schools. 

In the efforts of the teacher to remove, as far as 
possible, the necessity for school punishments, he 
will have occasion to exercise all the judgment and 
skill he possesses, in employing other means to con- 
trol the tendency of wayward pupils to irregularity 
and insubordination."^ The first, and most impor- 
tant of these, must be found in the personal influ- 
ence of the teacher himself. lie must have the 
ability to inspire his pupils with a love of virtue and 
every adorning excellence, and his own life must be 
a model worthy of their imitation. 

* " The following appear to be the principal means of which the 
educator can avail himself for maintaining an influence over his 
pupil : 

1. The pupil's sense of duty. 

2. The pupil's sense of his future interests. 

3. The pupil's desire for knowledge. 

4. The pupil's desire for occupation and intellectual action. 
6. The pupil's desire for praise. 

6. The pupil's desire to surpass others. 

7. The pupil's love of, and respect for, the teacher. 

8. The example of the teacher. 

9. The hope of a reward. 

10. The fear of punishment." — Reid's Principles of Education. 



THE GRADED SCHOOL. 107 



Two Kinds of Obedience. 



No effort should be spared to lead the pupils to 
govern themselves. This is a cardinal point in 
school discipline, and every thing short of this 
should be regarded as defective and unsatisfactory. 
Even arbitrary government by the teacher, when 
necessary, should tend to self government on the 
part of the pupil, as an ultimate object. 

There are two kinds of obedience, which are radi- 
cally distinct from each other : obedience that is 
yielded in compliance with the dictates of reason 
and from a sense of duty ; and obedience that is 
yielded to arbitrary authority, without any regard 
to reason and duty. The first requires no sacrifice 
of honor or self-respect on the part of the governed. 
It is simply recognizing the true and natural rela- 
tion of the j)arent to his child, and of the teacher to 
his pupil. When the child's mind acts in accord- 
ance with reason, this obedience is yielded cheer- 
fully and from choice. When the pupil will not 
acknowledge his duty to submit to the rightful au- 
thority of the teacher, when the will of the pupil 
gains control over his reason and judgment, then 
the teacher must take such measures as may be 
necessary to bring this wayward will to bow. The 
authority of the teacher in school must be complete 
and unquestioned. 

But the teacher should never forget that love of 
freedom, love of independence, love of power, are 
all implanted in the natures of children for wise 
and important ends ; and no unskillful teacher 
should be allowed to lay his hand ruthlessly upon 



168 THK GRADED SCHOOL. 

■School Discipline. 

them. 'No degree of eminence is ever attained 
without them. No high order of effort is ever made 
without them. They are committed to the teacher 
to be controlled and regulated, not to be crushed out. 
The habit of yielding to arbitrary power against 
reason, is the condition of a slave ; and mere servile 
obedience is degrading in its influence, destroys self- 
respect, breaks down all laudable ambition, and 
paralyzes every noble and worthy effort. 

Of all the special instrumentalities that have been 
devised to aid teachers in securing the discipline of 
their schools, the most important is the use of the 
School Register, in which a permanent record is 
made of the pupil's deportment from day to day, 
and a general average carried out at the end of 
every month, to be sent, when practicable, to the 
parent or guardian. See antey p. 139. 

The subject of School Discipline is exceedingly 
fruitful, and I can not here attempt to discuss it in 
all its bearings. After introducing two or three 
quotations, I will pass to the consideration of a kin- 
dred topic. 

"The value of any given result in school government depends 
very much upon the motives which produced it. We have seen 
pupils benumbed with fear and still as the grave, and heard their 
teacher — whose only ncle was a reign of terror — lauded hy the com- 
mittee as a model disciplinarian. The stillest school is not always 
the most studious. Pupils may be controlled for a time by mo- 
tives which will ultimately debase the character and enfeeble the 
will, or they may be stimulated to the highest effort by incentives 
which will be healthful and permanent in their influence upon the 
mind and heart." — B. G. Northrop. 



THE aRADED SCHOOL. 169 

Quotations. 

" Another principle that is kept constantly in view in the gov- 
ernment of the school, is to produce results by steadiness and per- 
severance, rather than by violent measures. Few students are 
found so obstinate or wayward as not to yield, eventually, even to 
a moderate pressure, steadily applied. This method of procedure 
is rendered the more easy and efficacious, by the consciousness of 
both the parties, that there is always in reserve ample power for 
more decisive measures, if they should become necessary. Students 
not previously accustomed to a mild method of discipline, some- 
times mistake it at first for want of firmness. But such mistakes 
are soon rectified. The whole machinery of the school, like an ex- 
tended piece of net- work, is thrown over and around him, and made 
to bear upon him, not with any great amount of force at any one 
time or place, but with a restraining influence just sufficient, and 
always and everywhere present. Some of the most hopeless cases 
of idleness and insubordination that I have ever known, have been 
found to yield to this species of treatment." — Repoi-t of John 8. Hart, 
Principal of Philadelphia High School. 

' ' Where all other means, both of prevention and of persuasion, 
reasoning and argument, have been faithfully and perseveringly 
tried, and have failed, — when the incorrigible offender is proof 
against all the gentler influences and agencies which the teacher has 
at his command, and continued forbearance involves a permanent 
injury, not only to the obstinate transgressor, but to his associates 
and companions, and to the welfare of the entire school, — the 
teacher should be clothed with the power of effectual chastisement. 
But this power should be exercised as sparingly as possible, and 
exercised, when it becomes inevitable, in such a manner as to pro- 
duce the most salutary effect — without passion, loithout anger or undue 
severity, and never in the presence of the school or the class. Its infliction 
should, as far as possible, partake of the character of a, judicial pun- 
ishment,— resorted to with the utmost reluctance, — upon the fullest 
evidence of guilt, and of contumacy, and only as a last resort." — ^S*. So 
Randall, Superintendent of Schools, New York. 

15 



170 COUESE OF INSTRUCTION 



Lessons of Obedience. 



LESSONS OF OBEDIENCE. 



Society is so constituted, that the influence of 
government must everywhere be felt. A clieerful 
and hearty submission to rightful authority, is j)er- 
fectly consistent vrith the freest and fullest develop- 
ment of a manly, independent spirit. It is impossi- 
ble for any nation to maintain an existence, if the 
people have not learned this first great lesson of 
life ; least of all can a free republic like ours con- 
tinue, if the people have learned to govern, but not 
to obey. It becomes, then, an important inquiry, 
when and where shall this lesson of obedience be 
acquired. If delayed to adult years, there is no 
reason to expect it will ever be learned. It must be 
in the period of childhood and youth, and it must 
be either in the family or in the school. But it is 
painfully manifest, that a large portion of the chil- 
dren of every community, never learn to yield to 
authority at home, unless it be against their wills. 
In the public schools, all must be brought to the 
same standard. A spirit of implicit obedience must 
be secured, before any thing else can be attempted ; 
not stolid, unreasoning, servile obedience, wliich 
crushes all manliness and self-respect out of the 
soul, but that intelligent, kindly obedience, which 
recognizes the true relation between parent and 



FOK GKADKD SCHOOLS. 171 

Lessons of Obedience. 

cliilcl, teacher and pupil, and bows cheerfully and 
from choice to the decision of another, whose char- 
acter and position render it incumbent upon him to 
direct. 

Here it is, in the public schools, that all the pu- 
pils learn a lesson which many of them would never 
learn elsewhere ; a lesson which is essential to the 
perpetuity of our free government. This, if I mis- 
take not, is the most important bond of connection 
between the free-school system and the State, and 
in this alone is found a sufficient argument for the 
support of schools at the expense of the State.^' 

* " Of all the dangers which threaten the future of our country, 
none, not even the fetid tide of official corruption, is so fearful as 
the gradual decrease in our habits of obedience. This is a result of 
the ' inalienable right of liberty' which we enjoy so fully ; and is 
shown in the impaired force of parental influence, a greater disre- 
gard of the rights and comforts of others, and an increasing tend- 
ency to evade or defy the authority of law. Young America is now 
exuberant in its independence ; but the greatest blessing it can 
have, is to be saved from itself, and to be taught that liberty rising 
above law, destroys its victim ; untempered by humanity, is mere 
selfishness ; and imregulated by law, becomes anarchy. This dis- 
cipline is the work of education, and can only be accomplished by 
its broadest and most thorough operation." — Report of Andreio H. 
Green, President of New York Board of Education, 1857. 



172 



COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



Tempevatuve. 



HEATING AND VENTILATION. 



The improvements that have been made during 
the last thirty years in the principles and modes of 
teaching, are without a parallel in the history of the 
world. 

In school architecture very great progress has also 
been made, and most of the principal cities and vil- 
lages now possess neat and commodious school- 
buildings. It must, however, be confessed, that in 
the art of heating and ventilating school-houses, we 
have not made the same degree of progress. 

In attempting a few practical suggestions on the 
heating and ventilation of school-buildings, I will 
first introduce some of the more important principles 
relating to the subject. 

TEMPERATURE. 

We are so constituted that a certain degree of 
heat is essential to health and comfort. The proper 
temperature of a school-room, according to the testi- 
mony of a large number of the best physicians and 
educators, is about 68° Fahrenheit. When the ther- 
mometer in a room rises above 70°, measures should 
immediately be taken to reduce the temperature; 
and when it sinks below 65°, measures should be 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 173 

Respiration. 

taken to raise the temperature. If at any time the 
thermometer sinks below 60°, pupils can not be con- 
fined in their seats without an exposure of liealth. 

RESPIRATION. 

The healthy action of both mind and body re- 
quires a constant supply of fresh air for the lungs. 
A pure atmosphere is composed of about 80 per 
cent, of nitrogen, and 20 per cent, of oxygen. 
The life-giving principle is the oxygen. Air that 
has once passed through the lungs, is deprived 
of a large portion of its oxygen and charged with 
a poisonous gas. If it is retained in the lungs 
a few seconds, it will not even support ordinary 
combustion. Any one desirous of satisfying him- 
self on this point, can do so by the following sim- 
ple experiment. Provide a vessel containing a few 
quarts of water, a short tube of sufficient size for 
the breath to pass freely through it, a common 
drinking-glass, and a piece of candle about half an 
inch in length, attached to a few inches of wire, by 
which it may be suspended. I^ow plunge the glass 
into the water, and when the air is all expelled, in- 
vert and raise it gradually till most of the glass rises 
above the water ; the open part being still below 
the surface^ and the glass being still filled with the 
water. !Next inhale a full breath of air and hold it 
in the lungs for fifteen or twenty seconds ; then 
breathe it through the tube under the edge of the 
glass. It will of course displace the water, and the 
glass will be filled with air from the lungs. Before 

15* 



174: C0UE3E OF INSTRUCTION 

Kespi ration. 

taking tlie glass out of the water, plunge in a small 
plate or board, and close tlie opening of the glass. 
It may now be removed from the water and set on 
a table, and is ready for use. Having lighted the 
candle, remove the cover from the glass and drop 
the candle into the impure air, and the flame will 
be instantly extinguished. 

Besides the impurities sent out from the lungs, 
the insensible perspiration from all the pupils in a 
room contributes very considerably to increase the 
pernicious quality of the atmosphere. 

To those who value the health of their children, it 
needs no argument to prove that this devitalized, 
poisonous air should be constantly removed from 
the school-room, and pure, life-giving air be intro- 
duced in its stead. 

In estimating the amount of fresh air to be sup- 
plied, we ought not merely to consider what the 
system can be made to tolerate, but what amount 
will sustain the highest state of health for the longest 
time. Dr. Reid recommends at least ten cubic feet 
per minute as a suitable average supply for each in- 
dividual ; and states that his estimate is the result of 
an " extreme variety of experiments, made on hun- 
dreds of different constitutions, supplied one by one 
with given amounts of air, and also in numerous as- 
semblies and meetings, where there were means of 
estimating the quantity of air with which they were 
provided."^ 

* Reid on Ventilation. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 175 

Hot-air Furnaces. 

'No physiologist estimates the amount required by 
each individual at less than five cubic feet per min- 
ute ; and yet not one school in a hundred receives 
even this supply. The consequence is, that most of 
the pupils in our schools are compelled to inhale a 
small amount of poison at every breath. But most 
constitutions can bear a gradual undermining by 
slow poison, without any sudden or alarming symp- 
toms of disease, and so the process is allowed to 
go on. 

It is a reproach to the age in which we live, that 
with so many opportunities for advancement, the 
heating and ventilation of most of the school-build- 
ings in every section of the country are still so un- 
satisfactory. 

Let us not, however, neglect to avail ourselves of 
the knowledge we possess, nor regard all efforts to 
introduce improvements as failures, because they are 
only partially successful. 

HOT-AIR FURNACES. 

Hot-air furnaces are natural ventilators. The 
heated air that is sent into the room by them, neces- 
sarily forces the same amount of impure air out of 
the room. But the heated air itself, with which the 
room is constantly supplied, is rendered more or less 
impure by contact with the overheated surface of 
the furnace. 



1V6 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 



Steam-heating — Hot- water Heating. 



STEAM-HEATING. 

Heating by steam is in many respects more satis- 
factory than by liot-air furnaces, but even this mode 
of beating has not yet been fully perfected. 

In most of the school-buildings that are now heat- 
ed by steam, the radiators are placed in the rooms 
to be warmed. When due care is exercised to fur- 
nish a liberal supply of radiating surface, a satisfac- 
tory amount of heat is usually secured, with a rea- 
sonable consumption of fuel ; and in the coldest days 
of winter, when there is a great difference between 
the temperature of the outside and of the inside air, 
there is little difficulty in securing a moderate de- 
gree of action in the ventiducts. In milder weather 
the ventilation is necessarily very imperfect. 

To insure the safety of the school, the boiler 
should, if practicable, be located outside of the main 
building. 

HOT- WATER HEATING. 

When air is heated by passing over pipes that 
contain hot water, or over other surfaces heated by 
water, it retains its purity and possesses all the sub- 
stantial advantages of air heated by steam. This 
mode of heating has already been adopted in a large 
number of school-houses and other buildings, but it 
has not yet met with so general favor as steam-heat- 
ing. The choice between steam and hot water is 
simply a question of convenience and expense, l^ei- 
ther of these modes of heating, as ordinarily applied, 
affords good ventilation. 



FOR GRADKD SCHOOLS. 17T 

Improved Methods of Heating by SSteam and Hot Water. 



IMPROVED METHODS OF HEATING BY STEAM AND HOT 
WATER. 

The following improved method of heating by 
steam and hot water, is worthy of special considera- 
tion : The heating pipes are brought together in a 
chamber in the basement of the building. This 
chamber is supplied by conductors with cold air 
from the outside of the building, and the heated air 
passes by. conductors from the hot-air chamber into 
the different rooms, in the same manner as from an 
ordinary hot-air furnace. The consumption of fuel 
is somewhat greater than in the buildings heated by 
pipes wdiicli are placed in the rooms to be warmed ; 
but this increased expenditure is mainly owing to 
the fact that rooms heated by pipes around the 
w^alls are of necessity poorly ventilated. The saving 
is made by heating the air once, and then breathing 
it over and over ; whereas, by the improved arrange- 
ment, the air is heated, used once, and then removed 
by introducing a fresh supply. 

This may safel}^ be pronounced one of the best 
methods of heating school-buildings yet devised, 
since it secures the requisite degree of heat, furnishes 
a constant supply of fresh, warm air, and insures a 
good action of the ventiducts. 

Another mode of heating by steam or hot water, 
combines the two modes already described. A por- 
tion of the j)ipes are placed around the rooms to be 
warmed, and a portion in the hot-air chamber under 



1Y8 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Perkins Heater. 

tlie building. Tlie object of this arrangement is to 
bring as mucli of the radiating surface as possible 
into the rooms, and at the same time secure a satis- 
factory action of the ventiducts. 

PERKINS HEATER. 

The Perkins Heater has a pot for the fire and a 
hot-air chamber, similar to an ordinary hot-air fur- 
nace ; but instead of sending the heated air of this 
chamber into the school-rooms, a large number of 
metallic tubes are made to pass through the cham- 
ber, communicating below with cold-air conductors 
from without, and above with hot-air conductors to 
the several rooms ; the air being heated as it passes 
through these tubes, which extend from the bottom 
to the top of the hot-air chamber. To increase the 
action of the hot air upon these tubes, open pans of 
water are placed around the fire-pots, which are con- 
stantly sending ofi" vapor or steam into the hot-air 
chami3er. This arrangement furnishes a constant 
supply of pure air, raised to the proper degree of 
heat, and secures an efficient action of the ventiducts. 

Other furnaces, similar in principle to the Perkins 
Heater, have also been employed successfully in the 
heating and ventilation of buildings. 

Whatever form of apparatus may be employed, if 
the air is heated in chambers below, it is important 
that the rooms should be warmed by the introduc- 
tion of a large volume of moderately heated air. 
When air is introduced into a room at a very high 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 1^9 

Improved Stoves. 

temperature, it rises at once to the top and will not 
readily mingle witli the cold air below. In rooms 
heated by hot-air furnaces, it is not uncommon to 
find a difference of fifteen or twenty degrees between 
the tem]3erature of the upper part of the room and 
that of the lower. 

IMPROVED STOVES. 

There are two serious objections to the use of 
common stoves in schools. The first is the inequal- 
ity of temperature in different parts of the room. 
Children sitting near the stove are often obliged to 
endure a temperature of 75° or 80°, while those 
more remote are exposed to a temperature of only 
55° or 60°. The other principal objection to com- 
mon stoves, is their lack of ventilating power. 

The air surrounding a stove rises as it becomes 
heated, and the cold air near the floor of the room 
is drawn toward the stove to supply the place of 
the air that rises. In this way, the feet of the chil- 
dren are obliged to remain in the coldest air of the 
room, and the evil is increased by the action of the 
stove, which is constantly giving this stratum of 
cold ptir a greater or less degree of motion."^ 

* " When a stove stands uninclosed in a room, and without any 
direct connection with the outer atmosphere, there is a constant 
current of air toward it from every side of the apartment, both to 
supply the draft of combustion within the fire-chamber, and to seek 
contact with the outer surface of the hot plates, and then pass up- 
ward in a heated, and consequently more rarefied condition. This 
current, which is not at all impeded by the ordinary movable 
screens, owing to their being open below and at the sides, enters 



180 COUESE OF INSTEUCTION 

Improved Stoves. 

To obviate these objections, stoves have been con- 
structed with double cylinders, the space between 
the cylinders being open at the top and bottom. 
This secures a constant and rapid flow of air between 
the cylinders, which is heated in passing, rises to the 
top of the room, and then diffuses itself like the air 
that is introduced from a hot-air furnace. 

It is obvious that this action will have the efi'ect 
to distribute in different parts of the room the heat 
that would otherwise be radiated from the stove to 
the space immediately around it, and thus remove 
one of tl^e most serious objections to the use of 
stoves. 

The lower opening of the space between the cylin 
ders may draw its supply of air directly from the 
room, or by a little extra expense it may be made to 
communicate with the air outside of the building. 

If the air is carried to this lower ojDening by con- 
ductors from the outside, the stove becomes a venti- 
lating stove. Pure, warm air is constantly intro- 
duced by it, and the vitiated air of the room is forced 
out through the ventiducts. 

the apartment at the bottom of the doors and windows, and the 
chinks and openings in the floor and washboard, passes most strong- 
ly close along the floor, where the air is coldest and densest, and 
thus comes in direct contact with the feet and ankles of the occu- 
pants.' This effect is extremely unpleasant, at the same time that 
it is most injurious to health. Childi-en, especially in the country, 
often enter school with damp feet, and exposure to this cold current 
of air, in a state of inaction for hours together, is the sure but un- 
suspected cause of many a severe cold and hard cough." — Pennsyl- 
vania School Architecture, by Thomas H. Burrowes, LL.D 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 181 

Ventilation. 

If the lower opening, under the stove, is fed by 
air from the room, the effect is to consume rapidly 
the cold air near the floor and equalize the tempera- 
ture in all parts of the room. A constant circula- 
tion is secured, and the warm air from the upper 
portion of the room is necessarily drawn down near 
the floor, to take the place of the air that is carried 
up through the stove. 

Since the improved stoves I have described can 
be procured at a moderate increase of expense above 
the cost of common stoves, and since they combine 
most of the substantial advantages of steam and hot- 
water apparatus, and of hot-air furnaces, their limit- 
ed use can only be accounted for by the fact that 
their advantages are not generally known. 

VENTILATION. 

The construction and arrangement of ventiducts is 
a question of vital importance, in connection with 
the heating of school-rooms. 

Since the essential element of all ventilation con- 
sists in the ingress and egress of air, the subject 
w^ould seem at first Adew exceedingly simple ; but in 
practice it has been found one of the most difficult 
of all the questions that have tasked the ingenuity 
of educators and philanthropists. 

The first ventilator of which the author has any 
recollection, was made about twenty-five years ago, 
and used in connection with one of Orr's air-tight 
stoves. It opened directly into a smoke-flue, and 
was placed at the bottom of a room, the lower part 

16 



182 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Ventilation. 

being even with the floor. This secured a strong 
and certain action, and removed the air from the 
bottom of the room where it is coldest. 

In manj of om' modern hooses the ventilating 
registers are placed at the top of the rooms instead 
of the bottom. If a school-room is properly heated, 
that is, heated by the injection of a constant supply 
of fresh warm air, a ventilator placed at the top 
carries off the warmest and purest air of the room. 
The heated air conducted into the room rises direct- 
ly to the top, and if it there finds a register opening 
into the ventiducts, it will of course pass directly off 
without being used at all. But if, on the other 
hand, the ventilating registers are placed either in 
the floor or in the bottom of the wall, the heated air 
sent into the room will first rise to the top, and then 
as the impure air near the floor is removed by the 
ventilators, the warm air above will pass down to 
take its place, and after being used and vitiated will 
pass off in the same way. The principal ventilators 
should not only be placed at the bottom of the room, 
but at the greatest distance from the inlet of the 
warm air. 

A very excellent heating furnace, patented by Mr. 
Sawyer, is based on the principle of securing active 
ventilation from the lowest portion of the room. 
His ventilating registers are placed in tlie floor, and 
the impure air is conducted by tubes under the floor 
to the smoke-flues. This not only takes the coldest 
and most impure air from the room, but the ascend- 
ing current in the smoke-flues necessarily secures a 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 183 



Vtiutilation. 



strong and constant action of the ventilators. It is 
worthy of observation that this arrangement is sub- 
stantially a reproduction of the ventilators used 
twenty-five years ago in connection with Orr's air- 
tight stoves. 

In constructing school-buildings, ventilating regis- 
ters should generally be placed both at the top and 
the bottom of the rooms. In houses heated by com- 
mon stoves, or by steam or hot-water pipes placed 
in the rooms, both the upper and the lower registers 
should ordinarily be kept open. 

The foregoing remarks relate to the ventilation of 
school-rooms during the cold season. In the sum- 
mer, when no artificial heat is required, the impure 
air from the lungs naturally ascends, and the upper 
registers should be constantly open. 

It is not too much to say, that half the ventilators 
now found in our school-rooms are nearly useless. 
In rooms heated by steam with the pipes in the 
rooms, or by common stoves, it is very difficult to 
secure any but the most sluggish action, even when 
the ventiducts are properly constructed ; and in most 
of the houses heated by the injection of warm air, 
the ventiducts are found to be either too small, or 
so badly obstructed as to be wholly inefficient. 
There are also hundreds of examples in which the 
ventiducts are "made to terminate in close attics. 

In a room intended for the accommodation of fifty 
or sixty pupils, the ventiduct should be not less than 
fifteen inches by eighteen, with a register having an 
equal amount of clear opening. In the construction 



184 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Ventilation. 

of ventiducts, care should be taken to give them a 
smooth surface, and to avoid all sudden turns or 
angles. The Emerson ventilating caps, placed at the 
outlets, are also important auxiliaries to the success- 
ful operation of ventilating flues. 

If a smoke-pipe, or steam or hot-water pipe, can 
be made to pass through a ventiduct, its value will 
be greatly increased. When this is impracticable, 
the ventiduct should at least be carried up by the 
side of a smoke-flue. In one of the school-buildings 
of Chicago, a steam-pipe is carried through the 
length of each ventiduct. In the Philadelphia High 
School, the ventiducts all terminate in two venti- 
lating chambers in the loft. In each of these is 
placed a large coal-stove, and from the top is a large 
cylindrical exit-tube. A large amount of heat may 
be generated by these stoves, at any season of the 
year, and an impetus given to the ascending current 
to any extent desired.'^" 

When all other resources for ventilation fail, the 
teacher should resort to the windows. These can 
be opened freely before and after school, and at the 

* -'The important points in the construction of a ventilator are, 
that it should, when possible, be a warm tube, and that it should 
open near the floor of the apartment to be ventilated. When warm, 
it constantly acts, from the mechanical tendency of a column of 
heated air to rise ; whereas, if cold, it acts only when air is, by 
some means, forced into the room to be ventilated. In every other 
case, a cold ventilator is not to be relied on. A second point is, 
that its opening should be near the floor of the apartment, for it 
then carries off the stratum of air in contact with the floor, which is 
always the coldest, and usually the foulest in the room." — North 
American Review. 



FOE GRADED SCHOOLS. 185 

Ventilation. 

recesses ; and they can be let clown from the top, a 
few inches, during school hours, when the air of the 
room becomes unfit for use. 

The following extract from a report prepared by 
a special committee of the l^ew York Board of Edu- 
cation, embodies a condensed summary of nearly all 
the valuable results that have yet been reached on 
the subject of heating and ventilation: 

" That the building be warmed throughout (except the janitor's 
rooms, halls, and stairways) with fresh air, heated by contact with 
hot-water or steam pipes, or radiators, placed beneath the build- 
ing ; that the quantity of such radiating surface be at least one 
square foot to every fifty feet of the cubical content of the portion 
of the building to be heated ; that if this do not amount to four 
square feet of radiating surface for each scholar to be accommo- 
dated in the building, then that amount be put in ; that the boilers 
shall be capable of boiling the water, or of generating abundant 
steam in the coldest weather, and the smoke-pipe shall not in any 
case show a temperature of above 350° ; that the draught of air 
into the furnace of the boiler, of water into the boiler, and of cold 
air into the stacks of pipes or radiators, be governed by automatic 
regulators ; that the boilers shall not require replenishing with fuel 
oftener than once in every four hours ; that the radiating surface 
be divided into separate stacks, one or more for each room, and 
that the ventilating flues be separate, with openings into the room 
both at the top and the bottom of the room, and equal in aggregate 
sectional area to the sectional area of the cold-air boxes, which 
shall not be less than one square foot for every hundred feet of ra- 
diating surface ; that the contractor shall give security satisfactory 
to the Board of Education that he will keep the apparatus in repair 
for five years, and that it shall in all weathers heat every portion of 
the house to 70"*, and furnish ventilation at the rate of ten cubic 
feet of air per minute to each scholar to be accommodated by the 
building, the air to be so introduced into the rooms as to produce 
no unpleasant draught." 

16* 



186 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Books of Reference. 

BOOKS OF REFERENCE 

FOR THE 

OEAL COUESE OF IIS^STKUCTIOIT 



In conducting oral exercises on the various sub- 
jects relating to common life, teachers are often at a 
loss to know what sources of information are most 
available. The following catalogue will serve as a 
general guide to works of this class. The list is by 
no means complete ; but it embraces the most useful 
of those which have fallen under the author's obser- 
vation. 

Teachers will generally derive more aid from 
such works as "Tlie Science of Common Things," 
'^ First Book of Science," "Fireside Philosophy," 
etc., than from the more elaborate text-books pre- 
pared for the use of High Schools and Acade- 
mies. By cultivating a familiarity with element- 
ary and practical w^orks on the different subjects 
to be presented, teachers will more readily adopt 
a style of instruction and illustration that is adapt- 
ed to the wants of their classes, than by studying 
works which are more extended and more strictly 
scientific. One of the greatest dangers in giving 
oral lessons, is that of attempting too much. The 
principles of science must be drawn upon sufficiently 
to give the pupils a clear and satisfactory explana- 



FOE GRADED SCHOOLS. 187 

Books of Reference. 

tion of most of tlie common plienomena around 
them, without attempting to exhaust the different 
sciences to which they relate. 

AcKEKMAN. — First Book of ]^a,tnral History, by 
A. Ackerman, 12mo, pp. 2S6, New York. 

Abbott. — Learning about Common Things, by 
Jacob Abbott, 16mo, pp. 193, ISTew York. 

Barnard. — Object Teaching and Oral Lessons on 
Social Science and Common Things, with various 
Illustrations of the Principles and Practice of Pri- 
mary Education, as adopted in the Model and Train- 
ing Schools of Great Britain ; republished from Bar- 
nard's American Journal of Education ; 8vo, pp. 
434, E'ew York and Chicago. $1.50. 

This volume contains a reprint of several of the 
most valuable English w^orks on Oral Teaching. 

Beechee. — Physiology and Calisthenics, by Cath- 
arine E. Beecher, 16mo, pp. 151, ISTew York. 50 cts. 

Brownell. — How to Use Globes, by F. C. Brown- 
ell, 12mo, pp. 33, ]S"ew York and Chicago. 10 cts. 

Bateman. — Third Biennial Keport of the Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction of the State of Illinois, 
for 1859-60, by Hon. l^ewton Bateman, Springfield, 
Illinois. 

Mr. Bateman's Report embraces an article of six- 
teen octavo pages on object lessons; the value and 
use of the slate and blackboard, and of cards and 
charts ; the best methods of cultivating habits of ob- 
servation and reflection ; and the relative importance 
of Primary Schools in a graded course of instruction. 



188 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Books of Reference. 

Calkins. — Primary Object Lessons for a Gradu- 
ated Course of Development, by ]^. A. Calkins, 
12mo, pp. 362, New York. $1.00. 

Carll. — Child's Book of Natural History, illus- 
trating the Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral King- 
doms, with application to the Arts, by M. M. Carll, 
16mo, pp. 148, New York. 38 cts. 

CowDERY. — Elementary Moral Lessons, for Schools 
and Families, by M. F. Cowdery, Superintendent of 
Public Schools, Sandusky, Ohio, 12mo, pp. 261, 
Philadelphia. 63 cts. 

Cowdery. — Primary Moral Lessons, Part I., by 
M. F. Cowdery, Superintendent of Public Schools, 
Sandusky, Ohio, 16mo, pp. 116, Sandusky. 33 cts. 

Camp. — Annual Report of the Superintendent of 
Common Schools of the State of Connecticut for 
1861-62, by Hon. David N. Camp. 

Mr. Camp's Report contains an article of twenty- 
five octavo pages on Methods of Teaching, embracing 
Object Lessons and a Course of Study for Primary, 
Intermediate, and Gramrnar Schools. 

Emerson and Flint. — Manual of Agriculture, for 
the School, the Farm, and the Fireside, by Geo. B. 
Emerson and Chas. L. Flint, 12mo, pp. 306, Boston. 

Fitzgerald. — Exhibition Speaker; to which is 
added a Complete System of Calisthenics and Gym- 
nastics, with Instructions for Teachers and Pupils. 
Illustrated with fifty engravings, 12mo, pp. 268, 
New York. 75 cts. 

The Gymnastics and Calisthenics occupy forty-six 
pages. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 189 



Books of Reference. 



Gregory.— Catalogue of the Micliigan State 
Teachers' Institutes, Spring Series of 1862, held un- 
der the direction of the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction. Pamphlet, pp. 80. Lansing, Michi- 
gan. 

Fifty pages of this Catalogue are devoted to Ob- 
ject Lessons, Physical Education, Moral Education, 
Primary Teaching, and an extended Course of Study 
for a Graded School, by J. M. Gregory, Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction. 

Most of these articles are also embraced in Mr. 
Gregory's Annual Keport for 1861. 

Hill. — First Lessons in Geometry, by Thomas 
Hill, President of Antioch College, 24:mo, pp. IM, 
Boston. 

Hazen. — Popular Technology, or Professions and 
Trades, by Edward Hazen, A.M., 2 vols., 16mo, pp. 
536, Harper's Family Library. 

Hooker. — Child's Book of IS'ature, in three parts. 
Part L, Plants; Part IL, Animals ; Part IIL, Air, 
Water, Heat, Light, etc. By Worthington Hooker, 
M. D., 16mo, square, pp. 469, N'ew York. 

Hooker. — jS"atural History for the use of Schools 
and Families, by Worthington Hooker, M. D., 12mo, 
pp. 382, ISTew York. 

Hailma]^.— Outlines of a System of Object Teach- 
ing, by AVilliam IT. Hailman, 8vo, pp. 38, Louis- 
ville, Ky. 

Mayo. — Manual of Elementary Instruction, by 
Elizabeth Mayo, 2 vols., 16mo, pp. 609, London, 
Home and Colonial School Society. $2.50. 



190 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Books of Reference. 

Mayo. — Lessons on Objects, by Elizabeth Mayo, 
16mo, pp. 229, London. $1.50. 

An American edition of this work will soon be 
issned by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. 

Mayo. — Lessons on Shells, by Elizabeth Mayo, 
16mo, London. $2.00. 

Makcel. — Language as a Means of Mental Cul- 
ture and International Communication, by C. Mar- 
cel, French Consul, 2 vols., 12mo, pp. 811, London. 

This is an elaborate and philosophical system of 
mental, moral, and physical culture, practically ap- 
plied. The title is not well chosen. 

IsToKTON AND PoRTEK. — Fii'st Book of Scieucc, de- 
signed for Public and Private Schools, by W. A. 
Norton and J. A. Porter. Part I., ISTatural Philoso- 
phy and Astronomy ; Part II., Chemistry and xil- 
lied Sciences. 12mo, pp. 419, JSTew York. $1.00. 

JSToRTHEND. — Exercises for Dictation and Pronun- 
ciation, by Charles E"orthend, A. M., 18mo, pp. 252, 
'New York. 40 cts. 

Philbrick. — Boston Primary School Tablets, by 
John D. Philbrick, Superintendent of Public Schools 
of Boston. Twenty Tablets, mounted on ten cards, 
illustrating the Alphabet, Penmanship, Drawing, 
Punctuation, E'umerals, Sounds of the Letters, etc., 
Boston. $5.00. 

Philbrick. — Primary School Manual, by John D. 
Philbrick, Superintendent of Public Schools, Bos- 
ton, 12mo, about 400 pages. $1.00. In press. 

A treatise on the Principles and Methods of Ele- 
mentary Education. 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 191 

Books of Reference. 

Petkrson.— Familiar Science, by K. E. Peterson, 
12mo, pp. 558, Philadelphia. 

KooT. — School Amuseinents ; or. How to Make 
School Interesting. Embracing Simple Eules for 
Military and Gymnastic Exercises, and Hints upon 
the General Management of the School-room. By 
iS''. W. Taylor Koot, 12mo, pp. 225, New York. $1.00. 

KooT. — Infantry Tactics for Schools; Explained 
and Illustrated for the use of Teachers and Scholars. 
By the Author of School Amusements, 18mo, pp. 
180, New York. 50 cts. 

Sanders. — Elocutionary Chart, by C. W. Sanders, 
A. M., New York. 

Tkall. — The Illustrated Family Gymnasium ; con- 
taining the most Improved Methods of applying 
Gymnastic, Calisthenic, Kinesipathic, and Yocal Ex- 
ercises to the Development of the Bodily Organs, 
the Invigoration of their Functions, the Preserva- 
tion of Health, and the Cure of Diseases and De- 
formities. By E. T. Trail, M. D., 8vo, pp. 215, New 
York. $1.25. 

"WiLLEMENT. — Catcchism of Familiar Things ; their 
History, etc., with a brief Explanation of some of 
the Principal Natural Phenomena. By Emily Eliz- 
abeth Willement, 12mo, pp. 206, Philadelphia. 

Welch. — Object Lessons, prepared for Teachers 
of Primary Schools and Primary Classes, by A. S. 
Welch, Principal of Michigan State Normal School, 
18mo, pp. 173, New York. 50 cts. 

Wells. — Familiar Science ; or, the Scientific Ex- 
planation of the Principles of Natural and Physical 



192 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION" 

Books of Reference. 

Science, and their Practical and Familiar Applica- 
tions to the Employments and Necessities of Com- 
mon Life. By David A. Wells, A. M., 8vo, pp. 566, 
Philadelphia. 

Wells. — The Science of Common Things ; a Fa- 
miliar Explanation of the First Principles of Phys- 
ical Science ; for Schools, Families, and Young Stu- 
dents. By David A. Wells, A. M., 12mo, pp. 323, 
'New York. Y5 cts. 

Watts on the Mind, with Questions, ISmo, New 
York. 34 cts. 

Walker. — Manly Exercises, containing Rowing, 
Sailing, Riding, Driving, Racing, Leaping, Balan- 
cing, Hunting, Shooting, Exercises with Lidian 
Clubs, etc. From the 9th London edition, 12mo, 
pp. 323, Philadelphia. 

Watson. — jSTational Phonetic Tablets, by J. Madi- 
son Watson. Eight Tablets. New York. $3.00. 

WiLLARD. — Morals for the Young, by Emma Wil- 
lard, 16mo, New York. 50 cts. 

YouMANS. — Hand-Book of Household' Science; a 
Popular Account of Heat, Light, Air, Aliment, and 
Cleansing, in their Scientific Principles and Domes- 
tic Applications. By Edward L. Youmans, 12mo, 
pp. 470, New York. $1.25. 

The Reason Why; General Science. A careful 
collection of many hundreds of Reasons for Things 
which, though generally believed, are imperfectly 
understood. 12mo, pp. 346, New York. $1.00 

Fireside Philosophy; or. Familiar Talks about 
Common Things. 12mo, pp. 360, New York. $1.00. 



FOK GRADED SCHOOLS. 193 

Teachers' Library. 



GENERAL LIBRARY FOR TEACHERS. 

*' We, and the community, would look with distrust, if not with 
contempt, upon the man who should commence the practice of law 
without having in his possession a single treatise on law. Ai'e we 
not, then, justified in withholding respect from one who attempts 
to teach without the opportunity of daily reference to the excellent 
works which have been prepared to aid teachers ? The teacher 
should have a professional library, and should replenish it yearly, 
as regularly as he does his wardrobe, and as liberally as circum- 
stances will allow." — Dr. A. D. Lord, of Columbus, Ohio. 

The character of schools must always depend 
mainly upon the character of the teachers, and the 
progress and improvement of the schools generally 
bear a direct relation to the efforts made by the 
teachers for their own improvement. 

The teacher who is satisfied with present attain- 
ments, and whose ambition in school rises no higher 
than a mere repetition of past efforts, will be sure 
to furnish an example in which both teacher and 
school are constantly deteriorating. 

It is the manifest duty of the teacher to strive 
every day to make some positive advance upon the 
labors of the previous day. To this end he must 
not only be fruitful in expedients, and assiduous in 
studying the character and dispositions of his differ- 
ent pupils, but he must also avail himself of the wis- 
dom and experience of others who are engaged in 
the same work. 

The study of educational works embodying the 
results of the best efforts of successful educators in 

17 



194: COURSE OF INSTRUCTION" 

Teachers' Library. 

this and other countries, is an indispensable aux- 
iliary to the labors of the teacher who is desirous of 
advancing to a high standard in his profession. 

Abbott. — The Teacher ; or, Moral Influences em- 
ployed in the Government and Instruction of the 
Young. By Jacob Abbott, 12mo, New York. $1.00. 

Arnold. — Life and Correspondence of Thomas 
Arnold, D. D., late head master of Eugby School, 
by A. P. Stanley. Keprinted from London edition. 
8vo, pp. 490, :Nrew York. 

Alcott. — Confessions of a Schoolmaster, by Wil- 
liam A. Alcott, 12mo, pp. 316, I^ew York. Y5 cts. 

Burton. — The District School as it w^as, by War- 
ren Burton, 18mo, pp. 156, Boston. 

Barnard. — ISTational Education in Europe ; being 
an Account of the Organization, Administration, In- 
struction, and Statistics of Public Schools of differ- 
ent Grades in the different States. By Henry Bar- 
nard, LL.D., 8vo, pp. 890. $3.00. 

Barnard. — Educational Biography ; or. Memoirs 
of Teachers, Educators, and Promoters and Benefac- 
tors of Education, Literature, and Science. By 
Henry Barnard, LL. D., vol. 1, 8vo, pp. 524, 'New 
York and Hartford. $3.50. 

Barnard. — American Journal of Education, from 
1855 to the present time, edited by Henry Barnard, 
LL. D., 11 vols., 8vo, each about 800 pages, Hartford 
and E'ewYork. First five volumes, $12.50. An- 
nual subscription, $4.00. 

Barnard — School Architecture ; or. Contributions 



FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 195 

Teachers' Library. 

to tlie Improvement of Scliool-lioiises in the United 
States. By Henry Barnard, LL. D., 8vo, pp. 366, 
ISlew York. $2.00. 

Barnard. — Kormal Schools, and other Institutions, 
Agencies, and Means designed for the Professional 
Education of Teachers, by Henry Barnard, LL. D., 
8vo, pp. 659, Hartford and 'New York. $2.00. 

Barnard. — Educational Aphorisms and Sugges- 
tions, Ancient and Modern, republished from Bar- 
nard's American Journal of Education, 8vo, pp. 753, 
New York and Chicago. $1.50. 

BuRROWES. — Pennsylvania School Architecture ; a 
Manual of Directions and Plans for Grading, Lo- 
cating, Constructing, Heating, Yentilating, and Fur- 
nishing Common-school Houses ; by Thomas H. Bur- 
rowes, LL. D., royal 8vo, pp. 276, Harrisburg, Pa. 

Bates. — Lectures on Mental and Moral Culture, 
by Samuel P. Bates, A. M., l2mo, pp. 319, New 
York. $1.00. 

Bates. — Method of Teachers' Institutes, and the 
Theory of Education, by Samuel P. Bates, A. M., 
12mo, E'ew York. 

Craig. — The Philosophy of Training ; or. The 
Principles and Art of a ITormal Education. By A. 
E. Craig, 12mo, pp. 377, London. 

DwiGHT. — The Higher Christian Education, by 
Benjamin W. Dwight, 12mo, pp. 347, E"ew York. 
$1.00. 

DaVies. — Logic and Utility of Mathematics, with 
the best Methods of Instruction explained and illus- 
trated, by Charles Davies, LL. D., 8vo, pp. 375. $1.00. 



196 COURSE OF INSTRTJCTION 

Teachers' Library. 

Dunn. — Principles of Teaching; or, The ]!^ormal 
Manual: containing Practical Suggestions on the 
Government and Instruction of Children. By Hemy 
Dunn, 12mo, pp. 274, London. $1.25. 

De Tocqueville. — American Institutions and their 
Influence, by Alexis de Tocqueville, with E'otes by 
John C. Spencer, 12mo, pp. 460, ^ew York. $1.00. 

FowLE. — The Teachers' Institute; or. Familiar 
Hints to Young Teachers. By William B. Fowle, 
12mo, pp. 258, Boston. 

Hall. — The Instructor's Manual ; or. Lectures on 
School-keeping. By S. K. Hall, A. M., 16mo, pp. 
233, Boston. 

Hall.— Teaching, a Science ; the Teacher an Art- 
ist. By Baynard E. Hall, A. M., 12rao, pp. 305, 
J^ewYork. $1.00. 

Holbeook. — The ISTormal ; or. Methods of Teach- 
ing the Common Branches, Orthoepy, Orthography, 
Grammar, Geography, Arithmetic, and Elocution. 
By Alfred Holbrook, 12mo, pp. 456, New York. 
$1.00. 

JoHONNOT. — Country School-Houses; containing 
Elevations, Plans, and Specifications, wdth Estimates, 
Directions to Builders, Suggestions as to School 
Grounds, Furniture, Apparatus, etc., and a Treatise 
on School-house Architecture. By James Johonnot, 
l^ew York. $2.00. 

Mayhew. — Means and Ends of Universal Educa- 
tion, by Ira Mayhew, A. M., 12mo, pp. 447, I^ew 
York. $1.00. 

Mansfield. — American Education, its Principles 



F(iR GlcADKD SCHOOLS. 197 

Teaijheis' Library. 

and Elements, by Edward D. Mansfield, 12mo, pp. 
330, KewYork. $1.00. 

Mann. — Lectures on Education, by Horace Mann, 
12mo, pp. 338, Boston. $1.00. 

Mann. — Tlie Common-School Journal, from 1838 
to 1848. Ten volumes. Edited by Horace Mann, 
8vo, Boston. 

Miller. — My Schools and Schoolmasters ; or. The 
Story of my Education. By Hugh Miller, 12mo, 
pp. 551, Boston. 

I^OKTHEND. — The Teacher and Parent ; a Treatise 
upon Common-school Education : containing Prac- 
tical Suggestions to Teachers and Parents. By 
Charles ]N"orthend, A. M., 12mo, pp. 327, New York. 
$1.00. 

l^ORTHEND. — The Teacher's Assistant ; or. Hints 
and Methods in School Discipline and Instruction. 
By. Charles Northend, A.M., 12mo, pp. 327, JSTe^v 
York. $1.00. 

Orctjtt. — Hints to Common-School Teachers, Par- 
ents, and Pupils ; or. Gleanings from School-Life 
Experience. By Hiram Orcutt, A. M., 16mo, pp. 
IM, Eutland, Yt. 38 cts. 

Ogden. — The Science of Education and Art of 
Teaching, by John Ogden, A. M., 12 mo, Cincinnati. 

Page. — Theory and Practice of Teaching ; or. The 
Motives and Methods of Good School-keeping. By 
David P. Page, A. M., 12mo, pp. 319, JSTew York. 
$1.00. . 

Philbrick.— Peport on Truancy and Compulsory 
Education, by John D. Philbrick, Superintendent of 



19S COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

Teachers' Library. 

Public Schools, Boston, 8vo, pp. '74. Published 
with the Report of the School Committee of Boston, 
for 1861. 

Palmer.— The Teacher's Manual ; being an Ex- 
position of an Efficient and Economical System of 
Education, suited to the Wants of a Free People. 
By Thomas IT. Palmer, A.M., 12mo, pp. 263, Bos- 
ton. 

PiLLANS. — The Rationale of Discipline, as exem- 
plified in the High School of Edinburgh, by Pro- 
fessor Pillans, 8vo, pp. 259, Edinburgh and London. 

Potter and Emerson. — The School and School- 
master ; a Manual for the nse of Teachers, Employ- 
ers, Trustees, Inspectors, etc., of Common Schools. 
In two parts. By Alonzo Potter, D. D., and George 
B. Emerson, LL. D., 12mo, pp. 552, ^ew York. 

EiCHARDS. — Manual of School Method, for the 
Use of Teachers in Elementary Schools, by W. F. 
Richards, 16mo, pp. 188, London. 

Reid. — The Principles of Education ; an Ele- 
mentary Treatise, designed as a Manual or Guide 
for the Use of Parents, Guardians, and Teachers, 
12mo, pp. 292, London. $1.50. 

Russell. — The American Journal of Education, 
from 1826 to 1830. Five volumes. Conducted by 
"William Russel, 8vo, Boston. 

This was the first periodical devoted exclusively 
to the interests of education. 

Randall. — Mental and Moral Culture and Popu- 
lar Education, by S. S. Randall, Superintendent of 
Schools, I^ewYork, 16mo, pp. 236, ISTew York. 



FOE GRADED SCHOOLS. 199 

Teachers' Library. 



Sawyek. — A Plea for Amusements, by Frederick 
W. Sawyer, 16mo, pp. 320, Xew York. 

Smith. — Education. Part I., History of Educa- 
tion, Ancient and Modern; Part IL, a Plan of Cul- 
ture and Instruction. By H. J. Smitli, A. M., 12mo, 
pp. 340, Kew York. 

Stowe. — The Training System, Moral Training 
School, and IN'ormal Seminary for preparing School- 
Trainers and Governesses, by David Stowe, 8vo, pp. 
560, London. $2.50. 

Spencee. — Education — Intellectual, Moral, and 
Physical ; by Herbert Spencer, 8vo, pp. 283, Kew 
York. 

Four articles, reprinted from the Westminster, 
North British, and British Quarterly Reviews. 

Tate. — The Philosophy of Education; or. The 
Principles and Practice of Teaching. In five parts. 
Part I., On Method as Applied to Education ; Part 
II., The Intellectual and Moral Faculties considered 
in relation to Teaching ; Part HI., On Systems and 
Methods of Instruction ; Part lY., On Systems and 
Methods as applied to the various Branches of Ele- 
mentary Education ; Part Y., On School Organiza- 
tion and Discipline. By T. Tate, F. R. A. S., London. 

Taylor. — Method of Classical Study ; illustrated 
by Questions on a few Selections from Latin and 
Greek Authors. By Samuel H. Taylor, LL. D., 
12mo, pp. 154, Boston. 

Thompson-. — Locke Amsden ; or. The Schoolmas- 
ter. By D. P. Thompson, 12mo, pp. 231, Boston. 
Yo cts. 



200 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 

Teachers' Library. 

Todd.— The Student's Manual, by John Todd, 
D. D., 12mo. 

WooDBRiDGE. — AmeHcan Annals of Education, 
from 1830 to 183T. Seven volumes. Conducted by 
William C. Woodbridge, assisted in the 7th volume 
by William A. Alcott, Svo, Boston. 

This is a continuation of the American Journal 
of Education. 

The Sessional School Collection : consisting of 
Religious and Moral Instruction ; a Selection of 
Fables ; Descriptions of Animals, Places, Manners, 
etc., 12mo, pp. 298, Edinburgh. 

The History and Progress of Education in Europe 
and America, collected from the most reliable 
sources. By Philobiblius. With an Introduction, 
by Henry Barnard, LL.D., 12mo, :N'ew York. $1.00. 

Lectures before the American Institute of Instruc- 
tion, an annual volume, from 1830 to the present 
time, 12mo, Boston. 50 cts. a volume. 



THE END. 



A. S. Barnes & Burr's Publications. 



%tMxm' pftnuji* 



BY 

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE. 

WITH NOTES BY HON. JOHN C. SPENCER. 
460 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. 

This book is one of the most valuable treatises upon 
our social and political establishments that has ever 
been issued from the press. Written by a liberal- 
minded and enlightened European statesman, it is free 
from party and national bias. General information 
upon the social and political history of the country, 
of which teachers stand in great need, will be found 
in this volume especially adapted to their wants. 



RECOMMENDATION. 

It is generally conceded by reflecting critics, that the most philosophical and 
reliable work on the institutions of this country is that of De Tocqueville. He 
appreciated the principles and consprehended the actual workings of our govern- 
ment better than any foreign writer who has attempted their elucidation. We 
therefore welcome an edition of his work, in which the practical and essential 
portions are condensed and arranged, the speculative winnowed from the descrip- 
tive, and the whole arranged so as to instruct. In its present form it Is an ad- 
mirable treatise for seminaries of learning. — Home Journal. 



A. S. Barnes & Burfs Publications. 



%ut%m' ^W^xm^. 



By BE^-JAMIN W. DWIGHT. 

347 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. 

Discarding the narrow views of education far too 
prevalent, the author presents in this volume the 
claims of moral and religious training. It will be 
found to be very suggestive to teachers in conducting 
this department of education, and will inspire them 
with the proper views and the correct way of impart- 
ing them to others. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Its sound philosophy, its common sense, its elegant diction, and its catholic 
spirit, leave little to be said on the subject. — Hon. John G. McMynn, Superin- 
tendent of Schools, Racine, Wisconsin. 

This is a noble work in its aim, its scope, and its execution. It presents edu- 
cation in its true province— the culture of body, mind, and soul ; every power, 
sentiment, and affection ; every sense, faculty, and propensity, so as to make the 
human being a recipient of the Divine influence, a reflection of the Divine image, 
and a facile instrument for working out the Divine purposes. In this light the 
grandeur of the teacher's ofiQce, the high self-culture, the thorough religious dis- 
cipline which he needs, the zeal, patience, gentleness, and love which alone can 
fit him for his work, are vividly portraj'ed. The contents of the phrase, " The 
True Christian Scholar," are exhibited with a fullness and fervor adapted to 
awaken a holy enthusiasm, to inspire the loftiest endeavor, and to lead the soul 
to that dependence on a Higher Power which is the sole condition of its energy 
and progress.— iV^orift American. 



A. S. Barnes & Burr's Publications. 



l&tM\m$' pftnrvif. 



f ttlititttti 

By SAMUEL P. BATES. 

319 pp. 12mo,, cloth. Price $1.00. 

This work is one of great practical value to the 
teacher. The lecture on " Yocal Culture'' contains 
one of the most logical and lucid statements of the 
science of Elocution anywhere to be found. That 
on " Language" is by itself a complete treatise on 
the study of Grammar and cognate branches. And 
that on '' Education of the Moral Sensibilities" will 
be found of great aid to a teacher in introducing this 
branch of instruction into schools. The work em- 
braces nine lectures, characterized by great vigor of 
thought and beauty of expression. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

We find them well written, replete with sound views, and full of information. 
— Forney''s PMl. Press. 

These Lectures are full of life and varied instruction, and are pervaded by- 
sound moral and religious principles. They are well fitted to impress teachers 
with the importance and dignity of their work, and to awaken a noble enthusiasm 
in its prosecution. — Rev. Dr. 3Iassey, in Watchman and Reflector, Boston, Mass. 

I cannot express the gratification which I have experienced in reading your 
book, not merely on account of the lucid and pleasing style in which it is written, 
but especially/ on account of the important views and excellent precepts which it 
contains.— Pro/. James R. Boise, Professor of Greek Language and Literature in 
the University of Michigan. 

I was especially pleased with those upon the Power of Spoken Thought, Voeal 
Culture, and the Study of Language.— JEnos N. Taft, Member of the N. T. Bar. 

This lecture on Language, alone might prove a hundred times more valuable 
than the price of the book to many an old fogy teacher, to say nothing of his 
pupils. — Ohio Educational Monthly. 



A. S. Barnes <& Burros Publications. 



%tM\im' pftvHVij< 



By PHILOBIBLIUS. 

with an introduction by henry barnard, ll.d. 

310 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. 

The present work furnishes such an account of the 
various systems of education which have character- 
ized races, or have enjoyed a successive pre-eminence 
during the historical ages of the world, as shall afford 
the student a competent general view of their spirit 
and practice. The views given will enable the reader 
to form an intelligent judgment upon all the leading 
practical questions of education. It traces their his- 
tory in practice from nation to nation, and from age 
to age, and the zealous student will not fail to find in 
it much food for thought, and a valuable stimulus to 
further investigation, As the pioneer American work 
in its department, it must legitimately bespeak kind 
consideration and credit. 



EECOMMENDATION. 

A work, giving in condensed form the history and progress of education, has 
long been a desideratum among teachers and educators. It is an admirable 
book, and will be hailed with delight by thousands of anxious teachers through- 
out the land. It has long been meet that the history of education should be 
gathered from among the many and ponderous volumes through which it lies 
scattered, and presented in a condensed and succinct form that would fall within 
the reach of every one. This book has accomplished this.— Nortli-Western Home 
and School Journal. 



A. S. Barnes S Burros Publications. 



Wm\xm' W^xmj, 



By DAVID P. PAGE, A.M. 

349 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. » 

This truly noble work is now passing through its 
thirty-fifth edition. It is a book which no teacher 
can afford to do without. It contains invaluable 
truths and counsels to all whose aim it is to stand 
upon the heights of the profession. They have 
originated in the convictions derived from the reali- 
ties of the school-room during some twenty years of 
active service as a teacher. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

It is altog:ether the best book on this subject I have ever seen.— Hon. S. Young. 

I have read it with all that absorbing, self-denying interest which, in my 
younger days, was reserved for fiction and poetry.— Pres. North, of Harrdlton 
College. 

I am pleased with and commend this work to the attention of school-teachers, 
for light and instruction to guide and govern them in the discharge of their deli- 
cate and important duties.— i\^. S. Benton, Sup't of Com. Schools, State of N. York. 

I received, a few days since, your Theory and Practice of Teaching, and a capi- 
tal theory and capital practice it is. I have read it with unmingled delight. 
Even if I should look through a critic's microscope, I should hardly find a 
single sentiment to dissent from, and certainly not one to condemn. It is a 

GRAND BOOK, AND I THANK HeAYEN THAT YOU HAVE -WRITTEN IT.— Bon. 

Horace Mann, Secretary of Board of Education, llassachusetls. 

Were it our business to examine teachers, we would never dismiss a candidate 
without naming this book. In one indifferent to such a work we should certainly 
have little confidence, however he might appear in other respects.— F<. Chron. 



A. S. Barnes <& Burr's Publications. 



'^mt)xm' pftr^t^jj^ 



J ALFRED HOLBROOK. 

456 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. 

This volume is designed to take a working school 
on a visit to teachers. It presents to its readers, in 
succession, classes in the several grades of the com- 
mon branches in actual operation, and the teachers 
pursumg such methods as have proved abundantly 
successful with large numbers who have tried them. 
The definite instruction given for teaching the com- 
mon-school branches causes the book to be very useful 
aod popular among teachers. 



RECOMMENDATIONS 

I have examined the Normal, by Alfred Holbrook, and am much pleased with 
its plan and object. In the hands of inquiring, thoughtful teachers it must be 
o£ much service. It will also be of important use to school committees and 
others, in defining clearly the scope of certain duties and the methods to be pur- 
sued in teaching. — David N. Camp, SvpH of Conn. Common Srhooh. 

The above is undoubtedly one of the most valuable books comprised within the 
whole range of school literature. The methods recommended are clear, logical, 
exhaustive, and equally happy in their application to primary or advanced 
teaching. — Illinois Teacher. 



A. S. Barnes & Burros Publications. 



%mt;\\m' phntvi)< 



itlW. 



By OHAELES DAVIES, LL.D. 

375 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. 

This work is not intended as a treatise on any 
special branch of mathematical science, and there- 
fore demands for its full appreciation a general ac- 
quaintance with the leading methods and routine of 
mathematical inyestigation. It is an elaborate and 
lucid exposition of the principles which lie at the 
foundation of pure mathematics, and a highly inge- 
nious application of their results to the development 
of the essential idea of Arithmetic, Geometry, Al- 
gebra, Analytical Geometry, and the Differential and 
Integral Calculus. The work is preceded by a gen- 
eral view of the science of Logic, and closes with an 
essay on the utility of Mathematics. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

We are very much mistaken if this work shall not prove more popular and 
more useful than any which the distinguished author has given to the public. — 
Lutheran Observer. 

We have been much interested both in the plan and in the execution of the 
work, and would recommend the study of it to the theologian as a discipline in 
close and accurate thinking, and in logical method and reasoning. It will be 
useful also to the general scholar and to the practical mechanic. Nowhere hnve 
we seen a finer illustration of the connection between the abstractly scientific 
and the practical. — Independent. 



A. S. Barnes & Burros Publications. 



"^tixtXxm' pft.v^t*i!* 



By EDWAKD D. MANSFIELD. 

320 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. 

This work is suggestive of principles, and not in- 
tended to point out a course of studies. Its aim is 
to excite attention to what should be the elements 
of an American Education : or, in other words, what 
are the ideas of a Republican and Christian Educa- 
tion, in this period of rapid development. The author 
has aimed to turn the thoughts of those engaged in 
the direction of youth to the fact that it is the 
entire soul, in all its faculties, which needs educa- 
tion, aM not any one of its talents ; and that this is 
a need especially of our country and times. To do 
this requires a complete discipline of mind and analy- 
sis of society. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The author could not have applied his pen to the production of a hook npon a 
subject of more importance than the one he has chosen. His views upcn the 
elements of an American education, and its beatings upon our institutions, are 
sound, and worthy the attention of those to whom they are particularly ad- 
dressed.— -RocAesiJer Daily Adcertiser. 

We have examined it with some care, and are delighted with it. It discusses 
the whole subject of American education, and presents views at once enlarged 
and comprehensive ; it, in fact, covers the whole ground.— JacA-wn Patriot. 

We hope its sentiments may be diffused as freely and as widely throughout our 
land as the air we breathe.— .£aZa»iasoo Gazette. 



A. S. Barnes & Burros Ficblicatioi 



l^mtlxm' ^§\Mmj. 



By N. W. TAYLOR E O T. 

©Eiti^ lEnsrabtngs. 
225 pp. 12mo.; cloth. Price $1.00. 

This work has origmated in the acknowledged prin- 
ciple that improvement of the mind is the sure at- 
tendant of that of the body. It contains practical 
instruction to teachers how to combine pleasure with 
profit, so as to render them mutually subservient to 
each other. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

We are glad to welcome this new contribution to the cause of physical educa- 
tion. The introduction of proper and systematic physical exercises to the school- 
grounds will not only save many lives, but will greatly aid" in the government 
and moral instruction of our schools.— J/jc/n'.^an Journal of Education. 

A work, completely su? generis, is School Amusements, by N. W. Taylor Boot, 
a gentleman who holds to the good old plan that 
" All work and no play 
Makes Jack a dull boy." 
His plan, as set forth in this book, is to make the exercise of mind and body go 
on togeiher.— Philadelphia Press. 

A capital book for teachers of all kinds of schools, whose design is to show 
the best manner of intermingling military, gymnastic, and other exercises with 
the duller portion of .school duties.— Ifarper's Weelchj. 

A new influence soems to be creeping over our school-houses, and we must 
confess to a hearty sympathy with it. Old fogyism, the pedagogueship of the 
past, with its rod of iron or its black-hole, and the rigid sternness of the master, 
is at last relaxing into a smile at its own absurdity and inhumanity, and is 
actually endeavoring to make school-days pleasant by artificial means. A 
pleasant school-room, a pleasant teacher, and a pleasant crowd of happy chil- 
dren ! Who would believe it ? But 60 it is, and so it ought to be, and the author 
of this book has undertaken to reduce school amusements and pastimes to an art 
worthy of study and cultivation.— J/usicaZ World. 



A. S. Barnes & Burros Ficblications. 



Wnxtlxm' pfenirt). 



By IK a MAYHEW, A.M. 

474 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. 



The author has aimed to present the subject of 
Education, which should have reference to the whole 
man, — the body, the mind, and the heart, — and so to 
unfold its nature, advantages, and claims, as to make 
it everywhere acceptable. He would have a good 
common education considered as the inalienable 
right of every child in the community, and have it 
placed ^rs^ among the necessaries of life. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

We commend the work, not merely as a useful manual for teachers and school 
committees, but as one to be read by the people — every man, woman, and child 
of whom is interested in the subject of which it treats. — Methodiat Quarterly 
Review. 

This is truly a national work, and should be in the hands of every educator 
throughout the land. We can not speak too highly of it, and earnestly recom- 
mend it to the careful perusal of all interested in the educational reforms of the 
day. — Teachers^ Advocate. 



A. S. Barnes & Bicrr^s Publications. 



^tiulxm' phv^rj). 




By CHARLES NOETHEND, A.M. 

327 pp. 12mo., cloth. Price $1.00. 

In the preparation of this volume it has been the 
author's aim to furnish for teachers a work that 
should at once lead them to view their calling in its 
true light, stimulate them to fidelity, and furnish 
them with such plain practical suggestions as might 
prove valuable to them in the performance of their 
important and arduous duties. In the execution of 
his design, he has been free to make extracts from 
the writings of others, when he has found their views 
in accordance with his own. In all such cases he 
has made the proper acknowledgment ; and it is be- 
lieved that the quotations he has made will not dimin- 
ish the value of the work. 



EECOMMENDATIONS. 

This is an exceedingly valuable volume. No person, parent, teacher, or child, 
can read it without benefit. It is a treatise, eminently practical, upon Common 
School Education, and it is full of wisdom, evidently gained from experience, as 
well as from a careful comparison of the suggestions of other minds. He has 
illustrated almost every page of his work with instances and examples from real 
life, BO apt and interesting that, even merely as a book for general readers, the 
work has great attractions. The whole spirit and tone of the volume is admir- 
able. — New York EvangeHst. 

Mr. Northend's book will prove interesting to all, and of great benefit to 
teachers, especially as a chart for those just commencing to engage in the profes- 
sion. We are glad to find that the author, in furnishing to teacheis so useful a 
book, has not neglected the nia-iter in modo, and has here and there thrown in 
a pleasant anecdote, which will enliven its character and make it all the more 
acceptable. — Massachusetts Teacher. 



A. S, Barnes & Burros Publications. 



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BY 

E. G. PAEKER and J. M. WATSON. 



NATIONAL. PRIMER, or WORD-BUIL.DER 15 c. 

NATIONAIi EliEMENTARY SPEL.1.ER 15 c. 

NATIONAL. PRONOUNCING SPEL.L.ER 35 c. 

For these books the publishers ask only one fayor, 
that teachers and school-officers would examine their 
merits before adopting other works. The word- 
method and dictation exercises, prepared with great 
skill and care, form prominent features. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Tte new Spelling-book is a crowning excellence to the series. It is destined 
to supplant Noah Webster's in popularity. — Samuel B. .Bates, Deputy Superin- 
tendent Common ScJtooIs of Pennsylvania. 

This book is far in advance of any sinailar work with which we are acquainted. 
After a critical examination, we are happy to recommend it to teachers and 
school-officers, as being every way worthy of the prominent position the Spelling- 
book ought to occupy in primary instruction. — New York Teacher. 

This is one of the most complete works with which we have met. The arrange- 
ment of words, and the systematic classification in its preparation, can not fail to 
accomplish the work designed. — Prof. F. A. Allen, Principal of Normal School, 
WesicheUer, Pa. 

I have examined the National Pronouncing Speller, and am free to say (hat it 
is the only work I ever saw which exactly meets my idea of what a Spelling-book 
should be. It is pre-eminently practical ; it requires the child to do what it will 
be necessary for him to do all through his life ; it requires him not only to tell 
hoie Ibe letters are arranged to form the word, but to write it, using it according 
to its signification. It needs only to be seen and understood to meet with favor. — 
31. R. Barnard, Prin. Union School, Ithaca, N. T. 



A. S. Barnes & Burr's Publications. 



%\\imm\ 3um. 



BY 

R. G. PARKER and J. M. WATSON. 



NATIOIVAL. FIRST READER, 118 pp $0.35 

NATIONAL. SECONI3 READER, 334: pp 0.37 

NATIONAL. THIRD READER, 388 pp 0.50 

NATIONAL. FOURTH READER, 405 pp 0.75 

NATIONAL, FIFTH READER, 600 pp 1.00 

This series of Readers is unsur|oassed by any ever 
issued from the American press, in the excellence of 
its selections, in the proper grading of the pieces, in 
its admirable system of elocution, in the variety and 
interest of the matter appended in the form of notes, 
and in the substantial and beautiful style of art in 
which they are published. 



EECOMMENDATIONS. 

These Readers, in my opinion, are the best I have ever examined. I have had 
better success wim my reading-classes since T commenced training them on these, 
than I ever met with before. — A. P. Harrijiglon, Principal of Union School, 
Marathon , N. Y. 

In the simplicity and clearness with which the principles are stated, in the ap- 
propriateness of the selections for reading, and in the happy adaptation of the 
different parts of the series to each other, these works are superior to any other 
textbooks on this subject which I ha-'e examined.— C/iarZes S. Halsey, Prin. 
CoJhgiate Inxtitate, Newton, N. J. 

Vrom a brief examination of them, I am led to believe that we have none eqtial 
to them. I hope they will prove as popular as they are excellent. — Prof. Fred. 
S. Jewell, N. Y. State Normal School. 

The National Readers and Speller I have examined, and carefully compared 
with others, and must pronounce them decidedly superior, in respect to literary 
merit, style, and price. — N. A. Hamilton, Pres. Teachers'' Union, Whitewater. Wis. 

I consider them emphatically the Readers of the present day, and I believe 
that their intrinsic merit will insure for them a full measure of popularity.— 
J. W. Schernierhorn, Prin. Coll. Institute, Middletown, N. J. 



A. S. Barnes & Burr^?^ Publications. 



§*iti0uai; ^u'm. 



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♦ 



By S. W. CLARK, A. K 

Clark's First Lessons in English Grammar $0.30 

Clark's New English Grammar 0.60 

Key to Clark's Grammar 0.50 

Analysis of the English Language 0.40 

Grammatical Chart 3.00 

The true place to test any text-book is the class- 
room. Tried by this test, Clark's Grammars have 
won unqualified commendation. Pupils become in- 
terested in the study more readily and generally by 
this than by any other system. The reason is ob- 
vious. Any species of instruction that can be ad- 
dressed to the eye is more easily and quickly seized 
than when presented in any other way. The system' 
of diagrams, with the use of the blackboard, makes it 
both easy and philosophic. 



RECOMMENDATION. 

Clark's Grammar is a new thing in the study of language ; by his system, the 
blackboard, the great weapon of the modern educator, is made to play an im- 
portant part even in the ordinarily dry and dull study of English Grammar. 
His diagrams are at once simple and unique in conception, and universal in 
application. The most wild and uncouth sentei-.ces that Carlyle ever wrote, 
equally with the most polished and mellifluous of Byron or Tom Moore, are 
readily caught, tamed, and made to trot in double or single harness through the 
scholar's parsing vocabulary. While looking over the pages of Clark's New 
Grammar, we could not but think of old Lindley Murray, and the aching heads 
that used in our boyish days to pore over his crabbed pages, and wonder why 
nobody thought of so obvious an improvement before. — Racine Advocate. 



A. S. Barnes & Burros Publications. 



'§iximni ^icx'm, 



BY 

JAMES MONTEITH and FRANCIS Mc:N"ALLY. 



Monteith's First Lessons in Geography $0.25 

Monteith's Introduction to Manual of Geography 0.40 

Monteith's New Manual of Geography 0.60 

Mc]^3■ally's Complete School Geography 1.00 



EE COMMENDATIONS. 

All the geographies in use in our common schools have received from me a 
careful and critical examination. The National Series was one of two series 
that received my full approbation. The opinion that I formed of their great 
merit is justified by their extensive use in the public schools of this city. I have 
found, by examination of the Book of Supply of our Board, that considerably the 
largest number of any series now used in our public schools, is the National, by 
Monteith and McNally. — i?. A. Adams, Chairman of ^^ ComrtnUee on Coume of 
Studies and School-hoolis," and 3Iember of " Commiitee of Supplies" of Board of 
Education of New York. 

During an experience of ten years in teaching, I have found no series of 
Geographies so well calculated, in matter, arrangement, and system, to facilitate 
the progress of the learner as Monteith and McNally's. — Solomon Mi/ers, Prof, 
of English Grammar and Geography in the York Co. Normal School, Pa. 

This s ries was adopted after a careful examination of the best works in this 
branch of study, and a year's experience makes us better and better satisfied with 
our choice. — Josiah T. Read, Prin. Marshall {Mich.') Union School. 

We have used McNally's Geography. since its publication, deeming it the best 
class-book in the market. It not only is the equal of its rivals in positive merits, 
but is superior to most of them as to ichat it »mits. It is both practical and prac- 
ticable as a text-book. — Rev. Joseph E. King, A.M., Principal of Fort Edicard 
Imtitute, N. Y. 

We have used McNally's and Monteith's Geographies for three years, and 
would not exchange them for any others in the market.— iJey. J3. St. James Fry, 
A. M., President of Worthingtmi Female College, Ohio. 



A. S. Barnes & Burr's Publications. 



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m 



By CHARLES DAVIES, LL.D. 

5El£mentara dourse. 

DAVIES' PRIMARY ARITHMETIC AND TABLE-BOOK $0.15 

DAVIES' FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC 0.20 

DAVIES' INTELLECTUAL ARITHMETIC 0.25 

ItAVIES' NEW SCHOOL ARITHMETIC 0.45 

KEY TO DAVIES' NEW SCHOOL ARITHMETIC 0.45 

DAVIES' NEW UNIVERSITY ARITHMETIC 0.75 

KEY TO DAVIES' NEW UNIVERSITY ARITHMETIC 0.50 

DAVIKS' GRAMMAR OF ARITHMETIC 0.30 

DAA^ES' NEW ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA 0.75 

KEY TO DAVIES' NEW ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA 0.50 

DAVIKS' ELEMENTARY GEOMETRY AND TRIGONOMETRY 1.00 

DAVIES' PRACTICAL MATHEMATICS LOO 

'iHi&anceU CTourSf. 

DAVIES' UNIVERSITY ALGEBRA 1.25 

KEY TO DAVIES' UNIVERSITY ALGEBRA 1.00 

DAVIES' BOURDON'S ALGEBRA L50 

KEY TO DAVIES' BOURDON'S ALGEBRA L50 

DAVIRS' LEGENDRK'S GEOMETRY 1.50 

DAVIES' ELEMENTS OF SURVEYING 1.50 

DAVIES' ANALYTICAL GEOMETRY 1.25 

DAVIES' DIFFERENTIAL AND INTEGRAL CALCULUS 1.25 

DAVIES' DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY 2.00 

DAVIES' SHADES, SHADOWS, AND PERSPECTIVE 2.50 

DAVIES' LOGIC OF MATHEMATICS 1.25 

DAVIES' M.VTHEMATICAL DICTIONARY 2.50 

DAVIES' Mathematical Chart (Sheet) 0.25 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

We have tested the completeness of this dictionarj' by looking for a consider- 
able number and variety of titles, under all of which we have found statements and 
discussions, succinct without being obscure, and sufficiently thorough to render the 
work a reference-book for proficients as well as for pupils in Mathematics. It is 
just such a book as we have needed for a score of years. — North Anier. Review. 

Each treatise serves as an introduction to the next higher by the similarity of 
it.s reasonings and methods, and the student is carried forward by easy and 
gradual steps over the whole field of mathematical inquiry, and that, too, in a 
shorter time than is usually occupied in mastering a single department. I sin- 
cerely and heartily commend them to the attention of my fellow-teachers in 
Canada. — John McLean Bell, B. A., Pi in. Loicer Canada College. 

The undersigned has examined with care, snd taught some time since, several 
volumes of Davies' Mathematics, and is of the opinion that, as a whole, it is the 
most complete and best course for aciidemic and collegiate instruction with which 
he is acquainted.— i/orttce Webster, LL.D., Pres.-N. I". Free Academy. 



